Daily Dose of Simplicity

Spreading a little Sunshine

2012-02-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

Daily Dose of Simplicity has received the Sunshine Blog award! It’s awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogosphere and a great way to meet new like-minded individuals. Thank you, Kelly at The Savvy Suburban for picking
The Simplicity Connection. (sorry I couldn't find the 2012 graphic!)

There are a few rules to follow in accepting the award: Thank this person who gave the award, and write a post about it, answer the questions that are posted below, pass the award along to 10 other bloggers, share their links, and leave them a comment to let them know that they received the award.

The Questions:
Favorite Color? Green definitely!
Favorite Animal? I have a fun cat who makes every day interesting
Favorite Number? right now 350 (let's hit that target people! www.350.org
Favorite Drink? Water... is that lame? I drink gallons a day, but when I'm not drinking water, then it's usually Red Stripe Beer
Facebook or Twitter? Facebook... I'm still have trouble really "getting" twitter...
Your Passion? Keeping it simple and helping others organize and make their lives more sustainable.
Giving or Getting Presents? I have more fun giving, but if someone has taken the time to create something beautiful with me in mind, that is wonderful.
Favorite Day? any day I can get outside and enjoy nature.
Favorite Flowers? Gerbera daisies

These are some fabulous blogs that I find inspiring and creative:
350.org (THE best place for news and info about climate change activism)
Simple Living America (my old stomping grounds, great for keeping current about simplicity)
No Impact Man (Colin Beaven's site about his travels through life living with as small a carbon footprint as possible)
Psycho Mike's Domestic Journey (local LA radio personality's quest to spend a year only buying American)
On Hand Modern (cute blog about creative family projects)
Frugal Ecologist (A scientist in her late 20s chronicles her adventures in cooking, homemaking, and travel while staying green.)
Green Divas (site for the Green Divas podcast)
Grist (my favorite site for all eco-newsworthy things)
Off the Grid Home Energy (ways to get your home off the grid)
Rudy Amid's Blog (thankful for Rudy's blog for helping me find the community of Civic Hybrid owners!)

The History of Falling Trees

2012-01-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

2012 note: thought I lost this old post but finally found it on Myspace. What follows is the story of how global warming LITERALLY hit me on the head and tried to kill me. Every so often I like to read it to remind myself how thankful I am to be alive.

Current mood:bouncy (2012 Note: oh Myspace, you're so cute.)
So I figure this is as good a place as any to post the story of how I got hit by a tree and lived to tell the tale. Picture this...Estes Park, 2005...

Just sittin' around the river, having a chat. That's me in the middle ironically chatting with the young girl next to me, who had just graduated from college and was worried because she had no health insurance. I was (once again, literally) telling her that she needed something—just basic 'hit by a bus' insurance—so that if something catastrophic happened, her parents wouldn't lose their home saving her life. Irony's funny like that.

AUGUST 26th, 2005 (the first email out to my friends and family after the accident)
Hi everyone,
sorry for the mass email, but wanted to let you know what's going on. As many of you know I was in colorado this week for a conference on living simply. Ironically, as a group of us were outside sitting by a river relaxing and talking, a strong wind picked up and blew over a dead 40 ft pine tree, whose path i was sitting in. (the EMT told me they have a name for these trees: "Widowmakers") After a trip to the Estes Park emergency room i came away with a varied selection of injuries: a scalp laceration (but no head or neck injury thank god) fixed with staples, an avulsion on my hand (if you don't know what that is, it;s for the best.) fixed with stitches, several broken fingers on my dominant hand splinted, and a puncture wound in my leg the size of a gunshot wound left open just to make sure there isn't still a piece of pine tree in there. All in all, my spirits are really good, I'm able to laugh about it because it truly is incredulous, I'm more shocked that this true "freak of nature" actually happened and grateful that my injuries were not more severe. Now my biggest problem is how to get me and my manual transmission automobile back to LA...
- Casey

Immediately after a tree falls in the woods.

AUGUST 27th-29th
Spent a few days in a Motel 6 down by the Denver Airport, watching the levees break in New Orleans. Hard to feel sorry for yourself when an entire city is in ruins.

AUGUST 30th
Annemarie flies to Denver to help me drive back to LA. Thank god for friends like that. Despite my skittishness of letting someone else drive, we make it to Vegas in less than a day to pick up Adventure Kitty, and then back to LA by midday.

Annemarie takes a picture of me in Vail, and I pretend to be the laughing monkey.

AUGUST 31st
No rest for the wicked, back to work on Don Cornelius' Lady of Soul Awards immediately. If I can survive this show, under these conditions, I'm pretty sure I can do absolutely anything.

SEPT
Sept passes pretty uneventfully, my leg holes and my palm start to close up, I become less concerned that there's still a piece of tree in there. I continue to believe that my finger is just a bone chip and keep it immobilized.

OCT 5th
Finally think it's time to see a doctor about my finger. My primary doc takes one look at it and says "See an orthopedic surgeon NOW." Ut oh. First ortho surgeon takes X-Rays and says, "Hmmm, I'm going to refer you to a specialist." Second surgeon, (to be forever known from now on as "Doc Cranky Pants") says, "Surgery, NOW." So, apparantly I waited 5 weeks too long to see him. Apparantly it is not just a bone chip, but a volar plate fracture & dislocation. (That's essentially a broken bone in your knuckle and one of the worst possible ways to break a finger) Surgery is scheduled.

OCT 19th
Surgery day. While they did not actually have to cut my finger open, they did insert 2 two inch stainless steel pins into my finger to keep it in place. There are what appear to be 2 baby blue thumb tacks sticking out. I am introduced to the wonders of vicodin.

OCT 21st-ONGOING
Physical therapy. Two, sometimes 3 times a week. Pick the handful of rice out of one bowl, put it in the other. Scrunch the paper. Somedays therapy is akin to torture. Others not so bad.

OCT 31st
Halloween: I wanted to do something to encorporate the thumbtacks sticking out of my finger, so I eventually came up with "Lil Miss Staples Catalogue" (see my pic right there) The idea was basically one of those old time sponsored beauty queens (like Marilyn Monroe was something like Miss Calif Artichoke Queen) but this time I would be sponsored by an office supply company, hence, Lil Miss Staples Catalogue...The dress was made by sewing While You Were Out Message squares to an old pillow case, the crown was binder clips in varying sizes clipped to a headband, the scepter was highlighters topped with a rubber band ball (not pictured), the earrings were mini Sharpies. Painted my fingernails with white-out and called it a day!

Halloween, 2005

NOV-DEC
More therapy. and then some more therapy.

JAN
After spending months trying to get a lawyer to listen to my case, I finally gave up and called the Y as a last ditch effort. Shock of all shocks, they forwarded me immediately to the safety director, who forwarded me to the insurance company. After only 2 conversations with my new best friend Mike Eberst, they agreed to pay out up to $10,000
of my medical bills. Here's hoping we stay under that limit.

MAR '06
My knuckle finally bends to 90º after A LOT stretching. A mini party breaks out in therapy room.

APR '06
So it's been 8 months since the tree fell and broke my finger and I still feel like I'm no where near being done with therapy. Had a visit to Doc Cranky Pants yesterday and he was equally unimpressed as to my progress as well. His suggestion, more surgery that may or may not work, will hurt more than the first one, and will probably blow through the remainder of the amount the YMCA's insurance company is giving me. Not to mention that now that this summer show is starting up (2012 note: that show was AGT!), I wouldn't have time to do it anyway. So I made a pact with myself, kick my therapy into high gear. I admit I've been babying the finger for a few months now, but now I know that I can't get away with that anymore. I've spent the last 8 months working around the fact that I can't (or probably will never) be able to make a fist again and I believe it is only because of my adaptable and simplified nature that I have been able to do so. So now I'm on the campaign to wear my splint 5 or 6 hours a day instead of just 1.

Me turning over a new leaf to wear my hand splint more often, and David Hasselhoff signing that splint, days after he acquired his own hand splint in a less climate-related accident.

And a few more pix that tell the story:

Tree from another angle.

base of the tree.

Close up of the base of the tree, where you can really see the damage pine beetles have caused

only one slightly gross pic, I promise. If you have to get hit on the head with a tree in a ravine, it helps to have a wilderness survival guide amongst your companions. EMTs weren't too happy they moved me, but I still feel confident my group made the right decision. I'm also really glad someone took pictures for me.

Ow! Pointy!

I was seated on the rock in the foreground. Everyone around me managed to dive out of the way, but when I heard the crack, I literally thought: "that's not going to hit me, I'm the star of my own movie." Look, no one ever said I suffered from low self-esteem. I'm blaming the high altitude.

Doc Review: If A Tree Falls (2011)

2012-01-26T06:35:00.000-08:00

It’s no secret I’m a doc junkie (I think I’m up to 4 viewings this week alone) and ‘tis awards season, so it’s time to review the candidates for Best Documentary Feature for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. First up “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.” I think this is the first film to take an inside look of the ELF. They interviewed members and victims, showed plans and manifestos, included a lot of never before seen footage and followed one member (Daniel McGowan) as he dealt the repercussions of his actions, awaiting his trial. It’s a bold concept (and a perfect title for the film): if corporate polluters can get away with no jail time for destroying our planet, why are people who try to stop those polluters (mostly with arson) labeled terrorists and threatened with hundreds of years of jail time? We’ve all been there (and no, I will never burn down a ranger station to get attention): believing in something so strongly and feeling like no one is listening. ELF took bold action by targeting (but confirming first) empty structures with spectacular “top-of-the-six-o’clock news” fires. When 2 fires they coordinated for the same night both turned out to be based on incorrect information, McGowan decided to get out of the game. The film follows the investigators as they build a case to bring the perpetrators to justice.

It was an interesting look behind the curtain of the ELF but it felt a little uneven. We only really got McGowan’s story: the epilogue gave little information about “where they are now” only listing McGowan, his ex-girlfriend and the purported ring leader of ELF, nothing about the other 10 involved in the crimes or the victims. (That’s always one of my favorite parts of the documentary: what’s everybody up to after the camera stops rolling) The narrative was a little too non-linear for my tastes and I wish they were able to get a little more emotion and reaction from those on the other side of the issue. I wanted to be sympathetic to the lumber company owner, but he came off as too milquetoast for me to care about him.

I feel great sympathy that they shouldn’t be labeled eco-terrorists (Timothy McVeigh=terrorist, someone who burns down an SUV dealership?=arsonist.) But what we as environmentalists are doing is not enough. Bringing your reusable bags to the grocery store, changing your light bulbs, driving a hybrid. It’s not enough. Civil disobedience is not enough. It’s a very sad state of the world where burning a building to the ground is the only way to get any attention.
Narrative: 7/10
Topic: 9/10
Visual Style: 8/10
Overall: 8

Making Whoopie Pies in a bikini

2012-01-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

APATHY IS NOT AN OPTION!

2012-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

APATHY IS NOT AN OPTION!

2012-01-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

I’ve had a few days to think over the Bill McKibben lecture last week. I wondered what I was going to say that hasn’t been said before, what was I going to take away from this experience that I didn’t already know. McKibben preached to the choir for about 2 hours on Friday night (it’s fair to assume James Inhofe wasn’t in the audience…[sidebar: why does “McKibben show up as being spelled incorrectly in Microsoft Word, but “Inhofe” does not?]) I mean I’m egotistical enough to think if everyone in America lived as I do, we wouldn’t have a problem with climate change. What else can I possibly do to make a difference? As someone who literally got hit over the head by global warming (and yes, I mean literally) I nodded appreciatively when McKibben talked about how Vermont, one of the greenest states (it’s right there in the name, people!) was devastated by rains and flooding from last year’s Hurricane Irene, and how there should be a whole lot more believers out there now. Is that what it’s going to take? A personalized hurricane for every James Inhofe out there? Frustrated at dire statistics and feeling like all I do is just to offset someone else’s emissions, I tried to dig deeper into this lecture and find the kernel that was going to move me from my own apathy into a new level of activism.

And then it dawned on me: McKibben, (who has been a hero of mine since seeing a Dateline interview with him in the 90s about Curitiba Brazil and his book Hope, Human and Wild—a catalyst that made me want to be a writer and an activist) is not by nature an outgoing person. He’s a writer, a college professor, he lives in a small town in Vermont, but by his passion for getting people to believe and act on climate change, he has become a powerful advocate and activist. And that’s what I need to do, what we all need to do. We need to set aside our apathy and move from our comfort zones. We need to stop saying it’s not going to get better—because it WILL NOT get better unless we do something about it and do it now. I see a glimmer of hope with the small but major activism victories of the last year: Occupy Wallstreeters braving winter, stopping SOPA, the President not caving to pressure to green light the Keystone XL pipeline. These are small victories, but they should be celebrated. They should be seen as momentum.

So McKibben’s next action with his grassroots organization 350.org, is to blow the whistle on Congress and the amount of money they receive from the petroleum industry. A good percentage of Americans do believe in climate change but feel powerless to do something about it because the people in charge of legislation are caught in a cycle of too much money. So January 24, 350.org is heading to Washington DC to call out the Senators and Representatives and how much each of them are receiving from Big Oil. And from here on out, I am going to make it my personal mission to get 500 people to join 350.org. And maybe those 500 won’t march in Washington the first week or call their Congressman but maybe they’ll sign an online petition and maybe they’ll think twice about driving somewhere they could easily walk to. And maybe they’ll look closer at their elected official and maybe, just maybe we can keep the momentum of change going. If you've made it to the end of this blog post and it led you to 350.org, let me know and I'll add you to my tally. Even better, pass it on and let's go viral. We're going to start slow, but I'm not going to rest until I hit 500 converts.

Why I Didn't Buy A New Car Yesterday

2012-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

(also known as "Why I Paid $4000 for a New Battery Instead".)

I’ve had my hybrid for almost 8 years now, driven it almost 150,000 miles and most of that was long range cross country driving (at least 10-15 trips). But when the good ole check engine light went on accompanied by the IMA battery light, I knew I was in for the day every hybrid owner dreads from the day you are first handed your keys. For those of you who don’t know there are 2 batteries in a hybrid, 1 is the usual car battery that all cars have, (that turns the car on, powers your radio, and can be easily restarted by flagging down a neighbor with a pair of jumper cables). The IMA (or Integrated Motor Assist) battery is what helps make a hybrid a hybrid. It’s what transfers the energy caused by braking to recharge the battery and adds additional power from the electric motor to increase fuel efficiency. But when the IMA battery is set to crap out, that’s when the tree-huggin’, reusable bag totin’, organic market-shoppin’ hybrid owner threatens a fatwa on Honda Motor Corp.

I previously had one of my IMA batteries replaced, but a dealer thought I could still be eligible for the 10 year/150,000 warranty that California had extended. No dice. After some fine begging by Gail of Lundgren Honda of Auburn, MA, we were told even though the car was bought and operated in California for most of ownership, since it was now registered in Maine, warranty: null. I could however pay to have the car shipped back to California, have it re-registered there and then they’d honor it… but doing the math, it seemed this would just end up costing me just as much (and the ecological impact of that seemed ludicrous).

So out came the credit card (actually several, since I had to pay for the battery and shipping in full before it was ordered) and now we wait for it to arrive from somewhere far off magical land (most likely Japan).

Some might think it’s crazy to shell out $4000 for a car that’s already 8 years old, but there is method to my madness. New car manufacturing is an unbelievable resource hog. And I have made a promise that my next car will get better gas mileage than the one I have now. When my 8 year old car still regularly gets 45-50 mpg, I think it’s safe to say, I’m not going to find a used car with that kind of mileage for around $4K. And the battery replacement fits into my ethos of “use it up, make it do, or do without”. Another teaching lesson here, is discovering a forum of fellow 2003 HCH owners, (http://www.amid.com/werd/hybrid-woe-ima-battery) which may or may not turn me into one of those “My Car is Better Than Your Car” aficionados. This community shows me that HCH owners are getting upwards of 200K miles and still going… my goal drive my little ‘brid till they take it out of my cold dead hands!

Water, Water, (redux)

2012-01-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

I often get a lot of flak for not having a toilet tank at my house in Maine. Last year the water in it froze and it cracked the porcelain. The bowl remained intact, but the tank was unsalvageable. So thinking I was lucky that I had a toilet that was 2 pieces and it was a popular and prolific brand (American Standard), I figured finding a replacement for the tank wouldn’t be too difficult to do. But alas, despite web searches and even calling American Standard, they were unable to match up the model numbers on my toilet to anything in their system. So it’s been a year of me having to manually flush my toilet (for those of you squeamish out there: it’s called fill up a bucket, dump it into the bowl quickly, gravity does the rest. I think this is a skill that everyone should have in their back pocket, it will make losing power for those with electric water pumps slightly less obnoxious).

But it seems like the more crap (no pun intended) I get from friends and family, the less I want to actually have this issue fixed. It’s not a hassle for me personally, and well it is my house, right? But there are other reasons: it’s a silent protest against products created to have interchangeable parts, but when one of those parts is impossible to find, it defeats the purpose of having interchangeable parts.

And what I feel is most important, that filling that bucket of water every time is a conscious reminder of the fact that 3 BILLION people on this planet don’t have clean or safe drinking water. I pause and say a little thank you for what I have. I take a moment and remind myself to not take for granted the water that comes out of the tap….that I don’t have to walk 3 miles to get that gallon of water….that wars are not fought so I can drink it…that I don’t have to boil it to make it clean.

Kilowatt Killing

2011-10-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Always looking for a new way to save energy… but often feel like I have ‘picked all the low hanging fruit’. Enter the Kill-a-Watt meter, which I was able to check out for free from my local library. It’s a small device that you plug your appliances into that gives you a read out of how many watts of power they draw… on or off. That’s the key here, there are so many appliances that are energy “vampires”, sucking power even when they’re turned off. I’ve got a few power strips for my television and cable and my desk, so that I can hit the kill switch when I’m done for the day, but for items plugged directly into the wall socket, I wanted to find out exactly what was up.

Reading Lamp with a 60 watt incandescent bulb: 57 watts,
With a compact fluorescent bulb (comparable luminance to 40 watt bulb): 9 watts
With a LED bulb (comparable luminance to 40 watt bulb): 6 watts
Verdict: it’s easy to see that the CFL and the LED bulbs are HUGE power savers. This was my first foray into the LED bulb and they are expensive (I got a deal for a $12 bulb, but the 60 watt equivalent would have been $40), but the power savings is considerable. The enclosed CFL I originally bought was too noisy but will switch some lamps to the coil versions. I now know that 40 watt equivalent is just not bright enough for my needs. Lesson learned.

Christmas Lights: regular incandescent 38 watts, LED version 3 watts.
Verdict: another considerable savings. I plug these in for a good 6-8 hours a day (I like the way the light it makes my house look!) The LED version aren’t cheap compared to the old fashioned kind (for a strand of 100: $25 versus $3!!) but again the energy savings will add up.

Refrigerator: as it sits idle: 0 watts, when running 400 watts.
Verdict: Can’t do much about that, living in a colder climate, it kicks off less frequently. But my next fridge will definitely be a more compact version and a higher Energy Star rating.

Computer on: 30 watts
and Printer: on but idle or off: 3 watts, printing: 15 watts
Verdict: No brainer here, unplug them both when not using!

Television: off 6 watts, on 150 watts.
Verdict: Another easy way to save, just unplug that TV when it’s not in use!

Dehumidifier: a necessity living in a damp climate with a finished basement…off: 1 watt, running: 390 watts.
Verdict: I’m most likely just going to keep this one plugged in all the time, since the unit has a humidity sensor telling it when it needs to run.

Electric Space Heater: Here’s the doozy: off: 0 watts, Running on low power: 860 watts, on high power: 1500+!
Verdict: easy to see here that electric isn’t the most efficient way to heat. I’m only using this one sporadically for little quick blasts of heating.

What are you fighting for?

2011-10-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Today's a quick reminder...If you're looking for a few reasons why the Occupy Wall Street protesters continue to fight, (and why they may seem to have too many agendas) take a look at this list:

The US vs the 14 European Union countries, the US is in the top third for: GDP, average home size, health care spending, defense spending, lowest taxes, car ownership.

But we’re the WORST (as in dead last) in all of the following categories: child poverty, poverty rate, infant mortality, obesity, murder rate, incarceration rate, traffic fatalities per capita, ecological footprint, water usage per capita, CO2 emissions, voting rate, paid family leave/sick leave, vacation days per year.

(From page 205 of David Wann's fantastic The New Normal: An Agenda for Responsible Living, 2010...and I'm not just saying that because he was one of the people who helped me out of the ravine when I was hit by the tree. :) )

Doc Review: Carbon Nation (2010)

2011-10-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I internalize my anguish over global warming more so than the average American…who am I kidding, if the average American was in anguish about global warming, we would have a lot more regulations in place… It’s hard to stay positive when there are just so many ecological failures lately. Frankly, some days all you want to do is curl up with a White Russian and watch episodes of “Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. So, It took me a full 3 weeks to finally watch the documentary Carbon Nation. I couldn’t psych myself up for yet another documentary that rehashes the same old doomsday prophesies and statistics that make you want to throw yourself off the non-solar-panel covered roof.

Fortunately, Carbon Nation paints a much more positive look at how we can combat the climate crisis. Yes, we’re still in dire straits, but even if you don’t believe in climate change, it presents solutions that just make good economical sense. (“So if you don’t give a damn about the environment, do it because you’re a greedy bastard and you just want cheap power.”—THE BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEER)

So if you’re still thinking there’s no hope and why bother, this documentary offers positive stories from dozens of positive voices who truly believe we can fix this problem. (My favorite of all the “characters” interviewed has to be Michael Dunham, the ex-rock n roll concert promoter who after a near death experience began a company that recycles old and inefficient refrigerators (JACO Environmental)…ironically, his father helped create the technology that helps keeps modern refrigerators cold! It also presents my 2 new favorite eco-enterprises: creating biodiesel from algae and using mycorrhizal fungi for carbon sequestration.

Reading List: In-N-Out Burger (A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules)

2011-08-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

It’s no secret how much I love In-N-Out burgers… and after reading the In-N-Out Burger: (A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
by Stacy Perman) I’m now head over heels. All super-fans have their quirks—I liked learning that like me, Julia Child used to keep a map of locations with her and that I’m not the only one who plans my travel according to how early I can get a Double Double (10:30A) and route myself around to hit up a location I haven’t been to yet.

The definition of corporate simplicity and amazing business model:
• “Do one thing and do it well”: A basic menu that includes no more than 10 choices (with a secret menu that makes variations limitless), choices that have changed minimally in their 60 years in business—a direct contrast to most fast food restaurants which trot out a new menu item several times a year (For a limited time only!) in hopes of bringing in more traffic.
• In-N-Out’s motto “Quality you can taste” should be followed with “Do what you love and have fun doing it”, as shown by the smiles and courteousness of their employees. Not once in 15 years have I noticed a bored or sullen employee.
• Their original expansions were done only when they had enough cash to buy new store locations. The In-N-Out dining experience remains special occasion because in 60 years, they’re only hitting 265 locations (in contrast, McDonalds now has over 32,000 locations.)
• Harry and Esther Snyder, the founders have always paid their employees a fair wage, often several dollars higher than the minimum wage.
• The company routinely makes the top of fast food customer satisfaction lists and was about the only chain that emerged from Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation unscathed.
• Their online customer service is a dream…I sent a ‘hey thanks for all you do and could you open a new location’ email on a Sunday morning, I had a personalized response within 10 minutes.

Only nine easy ways to fit in more fitness??

2011-06-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

9 Easy Ways to Fit in More Fitness

Caught this aol article about 9 ways to 'fit in more fitness'...

but ... how about taking the stairs instead of elevator/escalator, parking at the first available spot (instead of driving around for 15 min trying to find the closest to the store), better yet just walking there instead and carrying your purchases home in a backpack), raking your leaves instead of using a leaf blower, shoveling instead of a snow blower, push mower instead of a gas-powered mower... All of which are much better for the environment too!

Simple way to cut your paper usage by 75%

2011-06-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and already use the backsides of pre-printed paper for draft printing, here's another simple way to get even more from a single sheet, if you're printing multiple page documents. PDF the document you want to print, then select 4 from the 'Images per page' drop down box (you can go up to 16 pages per sheet if your eyesight's that good!). Click on 'scale to fit' and 'fill entire paper' and voila, 4 pages for the price of one. A great and easy way to save paper.

Water water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink

2011-05-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been holed up at the lake cabin for the last few weeks, and while it was raining for the first 10 days I was here, my plumbing has been hit or miss. After 2 visits from the plumber (and 1 by the well guy) I finally had something flowing out of all my taps…2 days later, it’s back to a trickle. The moral of the story here is, I need my water simplified here... Sure, I can count on 2 hands my water fixtures (kitchen sink, dishwasher, washing machine, bathroom sink, tub/shower, toilet, baseboard forced hot water heaters) but when something goes wrong, I have no idea how to fix it other than calling Jon the plumber over and handing over a check. My 7th grade industrial arts education did not adequately prepare me for this.

I’m proud that I was able to live for 2 weeks without running water (to answer the inevitable questions: bottled water for drinking/cooking, laundry at the Laundromat, shower at the gym, flush the toilet with buckets of lake water). But the best way to simplify is to be able to handle things yourself without having to call in the cavalry. It’s also a (very small scale) reminder that millions of people don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water and how important it is to keep water supplies clean and free of pollutants.

Reading List: More Good News (by David Suzuki & Holly Dressel)

2011-02-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have to say, this book made me feel a little better about this world we live in... when I first began writing The Simplicity Connection 11 years ago, I was originally going to call it Who Gives a Damn because it was a period of time when it seemed no on cared about the environment or helping others. Now, a quick stroll through Twitter or popping the word “eco-conscious” into Google Search and you get a feeling that everyone and their brother has jumped on the eco-band wagon. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a very very long way to go, but I believe the country is poised to make so definitive changes to its environmental policy. Case in point, Suzuki’s book… (the revised and updated version his book Good News for a Change) they provide inspiring stories about how ordinary business people are changing the way they do business to become more sustainable and still be profitable. Amazing stories of a sustainable forestry company (Collins Pine), how micro-loans are changing entire economies of 3rd world countries $50 at a time (The Grameen Foundation) and an inner city food co-op that is not only keeping it’s constituents fed, but teaching them the benefits of organic farming and management of waste and energy usage (Growing Power). The future may be bleak if you only listen to the popular media outlets...instead when you learn to read deeper to find the hidden heroes, you find the hope.

DO 1 THING FOR THE PLANET, TODAY...(now 110 quick tips)

2011-01-30T19:16:00.000-08:00

(See the original post here)

1. Reposition sprinkler heads (and/or potted plants) to increase efficiency.
2. Choose refillable ink and toner cartridges
3. Think twice before deciding to replace an (still functional) cell phone.
4. Switch to rechargeable batteries for all your alkaline needs.
5. Learn to love spiders and bees, two of Mother Nature’s hardest working and most beneficial creatures.
6. Say no to traditional dry cleaning chemicals (perchloroethylene), use eco-friendly dry cleaners or hand wash instead.
7. Save the “paper shuffle”: Switch to online billing and paperless bills.
8. Remember variety is the spice of life, try local heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables.
9. Use up everything “to the last drop” before buying more.
10. Increase your fuel efficiency by removing unnecessary items and weight from your trunk.
11. Say ‘no’ to plastic today.
12. Eat vegetarian instead today.
13. Use a bucket to collect your shower water to flush the toilet.
14. Take the bus to work or errands today.
15. Switch to cloth napkins instead of paper.
16. Eat something organic today.
17. Donate old books gathering dust to a library, school or Good Will.
18. Say ‘no’ to chemicals today.
19. Donate to a local charity today.
20.
21. Rake instead of leaf-blowing or shovel instead of snow-blowing.
22. Plant a tree today.
23. Walk to do your errands today.
24. Choose sustainable fabrics instead today.
25. Call and opt out of catalogues you don’t want.
26. Call and have your address removed from database of junk mail circulars.
27. Take your name off the yellow pages delivery.
28. Switch your print settings to use less toner and ink.
29. Properly recycle old batteries.
30. Skip the clothes dryer and hang clothes outdoors in the sun or indoors on hangers on your door frames.
31. Pick up trash in your neighborhood.
32. Use the back side of scrap paper in your printer.
33. Skip the carwash for the month.
34. If you have to buy, buy for durability.
35. Plug your electronics into a power strip that you can shut off before you go to bed each night.
36. Read an environmentally themed book instead of watching a TV show.
37. Sweep instead of vacuuming.
38. Set your print settings to print 2 or 4 pages to a single page.
39. Reuse glass jars for food storage instead of buying plastic baggies or containers.
40. Visit Terracycle.com for ideas on recycling items you might not have considered.
41. Investigate investing in socially responsible investments.
42. Consider buying used instead of new.
43. Stick a few reusable shopping bags in your trunk or purse so you won’t forget them next time you need them.
44. Bring a set of silverware and flatware to the office to replace single use plastic versions.
45. Create rags from old t-shirts to use instead of paper towels.
46. Visit the Salvation Army instead of the mall.
47. Find the people who nurture your spirit and support your dreams.
48. Gift a gift of time or service instead of a material possession.
49. Take a hike outdoors instead of being cooped up at the gym for a few hours.
50. Find the beauty in your public surroundings.
51. Opt for the natural fiber rather than ones made with petrochemicals.
52. Skip a shower for the day; a day of dirty won’t offend too much.
53. Switch any remaining incandescent light bulbs to CFLs.
54. Borrow a tool from a friend or neighbor rather than purchasing a new one.
55. Print your documents double-sided.
56. Run a load of laundry without using soap. Chances are if you’re washing at the Laundromat, there is plenty of soap already in the machine from the previous wash.
57. Donate old working electronics to those who may need them.
58. Say ‘no’ to genetically modified ingredients.
59. Too cold? Add a layer of clothing before turning on the heat.
60. Too hot? Remove a layer of clothing before turning on the AC!
61. Leave the computer and cell phone off and go have a conversation, in person, with an old friend!
62. Keep your immune system healthy by taking acidophilus.
63. Reuse plastic silverware at least twice before throwing away.
64. Think twice about whether you actually need to print something out.
65. Take a stand for something you truly believe in.
66. Don’t allow yourself to buy something just to solve a problem.
67. Adopt a local area or stretch or road and take care of it.
68. Donate old eyeglasses to Lion’s Clubs.
69. Think of mindfulness with all your decisions today.
70. Carry ‘waiting to warm up’ buckets of shower water to water your plants.
71. Skip the soda for today and have water instead.
72. Ask yourself, ‘do I really need this’?
73. Read by candlelight tonight instead of watching TV.
74. Unplug the hairdryer for the day.
75. If you’re not composting on your own yet, give your organic waste (fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, egg shells) to someone who is.
76. Buy in bulk.
77. Fix leaky faucets and toilets sooner rather than later.
78. Skip the chips and have a piece of organic fruit instead.
79. Bring your reusable mug to work (or Starbucks!) for your coffee or tea.
80. Leave everything a little neater than you found it.
81. Choose the version of a product packaged in glass over the one packaged in plastic.
82. Do something for someone, “just because.”
83. Choose organically grown flowers.
84. Gather all your hazardous waste products for proper disposal.
85. Opt out of deodorant for a day, even a little sweating helps rid the body of toxins.
86. Freecycle things you don’t use or need any longer to give them a second chance to those who may need them.
87. Read up on an issue that is near and dear to your heart. Make a decision to actively do something about it today.
88. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
89. Look for a little stress relief today.
90. Say ‘no’ to greed today.
91. Offset your yearly travel at terrapass.com or myclimate.org.
92. Maximize the daylight. Open the shades on a sunny day and leave the lights off.
93. Support handmade artisans!
94. Take a closer look at the ingredients of what you’re eating today.
95. Listen with an open mind today.
96. Before buying something you don’t really need, take 24 hours and sleep on it.
97. Before you pop a pain reliever, try a glass of water, a quick walk or a bit of acupressure.
98. Buy refillable products such as razor blades and cleaners.
99. Patronize local businesses to keep money in your community.
100. Skip the make up, perfume or cologne today, give your senses a chance to recharge.
101. Think twice about buying new jewelry and instead consider heirloom pieces.
102. Resist the urge to procrastinate!
103. Introduce a few houseplants into your home to help freshen and clean the air.
104. Call your credit card company and ask to be removed from their marketing list.
105. Say ‘no’ to water in plastic bottles. Always carry your own refillable glass or aluminum bottle with you.
106. Try a holiday free of ‘store bought’ presents.
107. Choose fair trade chocolate.
108. Say ‘no’ to free samples, boredom purchases and souvenirs today.
109. Clean out your closets and donate old clothes, shoes and accessories.
110. Forgive and forget.

DO 1 THING FOR THE PLANET, TODAY.

2011-01-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

I love lists. I've been feeling a little depressed lately that I'm not making a difference in the world, even though I feel that I do more than the average person to help the planet. I know that the hardest part of making a difference is getting (and keeping) the motivation to make a change and that's where this year's motto comes in.

Just do ONE thing for the planet today.

Because if everyone could just do one thing from this list every day, a major shift would occur. I tried to make the list as contagious as possible, little steps that are easy and painless to accomplish, and hopefully the little success of little steps will be encouraging enough for people to seek out bigger changes. I also left off the big stuff like slapping solar panels up on your roof and giving up your car permanently because if you're at that step already, you don't need me telling you to recycle your aluminum cans. But on the contrary, I tried to keep this list as a reminder to everyone-from the person who's never heard an organic apple to the person who actually grows the organic apples-that everyone can make a difference, it just takes a spark.

(This is just the tip of the iceberg to start with, just 100 quick tips jotted down in a fit of caffeine today. There will be more. Oh, will there ever be more!)

1. Say 'no' to plastic today.
2. Eat vegetarian instead today.
3. Use a bucket to collect your shower water to flush the toilet.
4. Take the bus to work or errands today.
5. Switch to cloth napkins instead of paper.
6. Eat something organic today.
7. Donate old books gathering dust to a library, school or Good Will.
8. Say 'no' to chemicals today.
9. Donate to a local charity today.
10.
11. Rake instead of leaf-blowing or shovel instead of snow-blowing.
12. Plant a tree today.
13. Walk to do your errands today.
14. Choose sustainable fabrics instead today.
15. Call and opt out of catalogues you don't want.
16. Call and have your address removed from database of junk mail circulars.
17. Take your name off the yellow pages delivery.
18. Switch your print settings to use less toner and ink.
19. Properly recycle old batteries.
20. Skip the clothes dryer and hang clothes outdoors in the sun or indoors on hangers on your door frames.
21. Pick up trash in your neighborhood.
22. Use the back side of scrap paper in your printer.
23. Skip the carwash for the month.
24. If you have to buy, buy for durability.
25. Plug your electronics into a power strip that you can shut off before you go to bed each night.
26. Read an environmentally themed book instead of watching a TV show.
27. Sweep instead of vacuuming.
28. Set your print settings to print 2 or 4 pages to a single page.
29. Reuse glass jars for food storage instead of buying plastic baggies or containers.
30. Visit Terracycle.com for ideas on recycling items you might not have considered.
31. Investigate investing in socially responsible investments.
32. Consider buying used instead of new.
33. Stick a few reusable shopping bags in your trunk or purse so you won't forget them next time you need them.
34. Bring a set of silverware and flatware to the office to replace single use plastic versions.
35. Create rags from old t-shirts to use instead of paper towels.
36. Visit the Salvation Army instead of the mall.
37. Find the people who nurture your spirit and support your dreams.
38. Gift a gift of time or service instead of a material possession.
39. Take a hike outdoors instead of being cooped up at the gym for a few hours.
40. Find the beauty in your public surroundings.
41. Opt for the natural fiber rather than ones made with petrochemicals.
42. Skip a shower for the day; a day of dirty won't offend too much.
43. Switch any remaining incandescent light bulbs to CFLs.
44. Borrow a tool from a friend or neighbor rather than purchasing a new one.
45. Print your documents double-sided.
46. Run a load of laundry without using soap. Chances are if you're washing at the Laundromat, there is plenty of soap already in the machine from the previous wash.
47. Donate old working electronics to those who may need them.
48. Say 'no' to genetically modified ingredients.
49. Too cold? Add a layer of clothing before turning on the heat.
50. Too hot? Remove a layer of clothing before turning on the AC!
51. Leave the computer and cell phone off and go have a conversation, in person, with an old friend!
52. Keep your immune system healthy by taking acidophilus.
53. Reuse plastic silverware at least twice before throwing away.
54. Think twice about whether you actually need to print something out.
55. Take a stand for something you truly believe in.
56. Don't allow yourself to buy something just to solve a problem.
57. Adopt a local area or stretch or road and take care of it.
58. Donate old eyeglasses to Lion's Clubs.
59. Think of mindfulness with all your decisions today.
60. Carry 'waiting to warm up' buckets of shower water to water your plants.
61. Skip the soda for today and have water instead.
62. Ask yourself, 'do I really need this'?
63. Read by candlelight tonight instead of watching TV.
64. Unplug the hairdryer for the day.
65. If you're not composting on your own yet, give your organic waste (fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, egg shells) to someone who is.
66. Buy in bulk.
67. Fix leaky faucets and toilets sooner rather than later.
68. Skip the chips and have a piece of organic fruit instead.
69. Bring your reusable mug to work (or Starbucks!) for your coffee or tea.
70. Leave everything a little neater than you found it.
71. Choose the version of a product packaged in glass over the one packaged in plastic.
72. Do something for someone, "just because."
73. Choose organically grown flowers.
74. Gather all your hazardous waste products for proper disposal.
75. Opt out of deodorant for a day, even a little sweating helps rid the body of toxins.
76. Freecycle things you don't use or need any longer to give them a second chance to those who may need them.
77. Read up on an issue that is near and dear to your heart. Make a decision to actively do something about it today.
78. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
79. Look for a little stress relief today.
80. Say 'no' to greed today.
81. Offset your yearly travel at terrapass.com or myclimate.org.
82. Maximize the daylight. Open the shades on a sunny day and leave the lights off.
83. Support handmade artisans!
84. Take a closer look at the ingredients of what you're eating today.
85. Listen with an open mind today.
86. Before buying something you don't really need, take 24 hours and sleep on it.
87. Before you pop a pain reliever, try a glass of water, a quick walk or a bit of acupressure.
88. Buy refillable products such as razor blades and cleaners.
89. Patronize local businesses to keep money in your community.
90. Skip the make up, perfume or cologne today, give your senses a chance to recharge.
91. Think twice about buying new jewelry and instead consider heirloom pieces.
92. Resist the urge to procrastinate!
93. Introduce a few houseplants into your home to help freshen and clean the air.
94. Call your credit card company and ask to be removed from their marketing list.
95. Say 'no' to water in plastic bottles. Always carry your own refillable glass or aluminum bottle with you.
96. Try a holiday free of 'store bought' presents.
97. Choose fair trade chocolate.
98. Say 'no' to free samples, boredom purchases and souvenirs today.
99. Clean out your closets and donate old clothes, shoes and accessories.
100. Forgive and forget.

Let’s do some off-settin’!

2010-12-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

‘Tis the season to think back on how much impact I’ve had on the planet this year.

It’s not a secret that I love to drive long distances (and conversely hate to fly, but sometimes it’s unavoidable for work) so I figured I’d add up all my miles on the road this year and head over to Terrapass and offset the carbon I’ve created.

Car Travel
2 round trip cross country trips (and a good 6 months of Los Angeles driving) in the ’03 Civic Hybrid totaling 20,216 miles, which equals 9,316 lbs of CO2.

Air Travel
7 plane trips totaling 12,049 miles of air travel equaling 4,148 lbs of CO2 emitted.
All told, 1,000 lb offsets at Terrapass are $5.95 each, so for under $84 I’ve offset my yearly travel with donations to renewable energy sources such as wind farms and livestock methane capturing. A very small price to pay for my contribution to global warming.

The wonder drug… (that’s not even a drug.)

2010-11-18T15:23:00.001-08:00

I may be feeling a little cocky, but I have to declare, that I do believe I have found the magic elixir that will prevent you from getting the flu, getting the common cold, the magic pill that keeps you in fine fettle and out of the doctor’s office. What could it be and how could I make such a bold statement? It’s none other than acidophilus, bacteria’s goody two-shoes cousin. And after the last 2 months of driving 3,500 miles cross country, interspersed with several weeks of highly stressful 90-hour work weeks, capped off with a round trip plane flight, I have put acidophilus to the test and come out without a trace of the sniffles, fever or chills. If I can survive this test of germs, stress, (not to mention that many changes of water quality) with just one simple capsule, imagine how well it could work for those working a governmentally approved 40-hour work week and not crossing time zones every few days?

*Of course every body is different and we are all responsible for our own well-being. Its not to say that you no longer have to monitor your own health and ultimately I am in charge of keeping myself healthy and taking care of myself if I do get sick.

350.org's 10/10/10 Day of Climate Action... the wrap up

2010-10-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

10/10/10 the 40º weather is putting a damper on the 45 mile bike ride I had planned. Now it's time to implement plan B!

10 for 10/10/10: Keeping it local today, with 10 simple climate actions you can do at home...

10/10/10 #1: Even though it's dipping down to the 40ºs today, no heat! Throw on a hat indoors and an extra fleece instead.

10/10/10 #2: In order to warm yourself up when it's 40º outside, 2 hours of vigorous raking keeps you from having to a) drive to the gym and b) allow the lawn to not get strangled by dead leaves over winter.

10/10/10 #3: Prep the outdoor worm bin for winter use indoors!

10/10/10 #4: make the outdoor compost pile for yard waste:

10/10/10 #5: Help keep your favorite waterbody clean. (thought my lake was pretty clean, 1 quick trip out to 2 coves: 6 aluminum cans, a coffee tin, a styrofoam bowl, 2 plastic bags, 1 plastic water bottle and a broken Timex GPS(!?)

10/10/10 #6: wash in cold—90% of energy in the washing machine goes to heating the water, and pressing the cold/cold button saves as much energy as "driving about 9 miles in a car or the production, transportation and storage of a six pack of beer." (Treehugger.com)

10/10/10 #7: Turn off that dryer! (a bit of a cheat for me, since I haven't used a dryer since 1998, but it's so easy to do, even without a clothesline.)

10/10/10 #8: Put the car in park! Rather than drive 45 miles (round trip) today for some socialized activism, I decided to stay home and focus my attentions on local changes.

10/10/10 #9: Clean up your 'hood! 20 minutes on the side of a busy roadway and I filled 4 bags of trash and recycling.

10/10/10 #10: and when all is said and done, just keep it simple and relax... it takes considerably less energy to just enjoy what nature gives us rather than to run around trying to keep up with life.

God, I love the dump.

2010-10-04T08:45:00.001-07:00

I mean I realize that’s not a phrase you hear everyday (or even once a decade) especially because most people these days don’t even come within miles of the dump any more. And to be honest, my ‘dump’ isn’t even a true dump, but a delightfully titled ‘Transfer Station’ where town residents bring all sorts of unwanted items to transfer onto the next station… whether it be the actual dump, the recycling facility or someone else’s living quarters. The great part about having to package up and carry your waste to a separate location is how conscious it makes you of how much you make. When you drop another bag in the bin and then drag that bin out to the curb once a week, you don’t think twice about how much is in the bin, much less where the contents go once the bin is returned to you empty. Having to put that bag in your trunk and then drive it down the street, well, that’s another story. When I see that my bag is joining the hundreds of other bags of my neighbors, I have an instant reminder of how dirty trash can be—take a deep whiff, that smell only gets worse the more people add to the pile. Right next to the compactor is a little area where people drop off usable items that they no longer want (sort of an in-person Freecycle corner). Head to the recycling area and you’re responsible for sorting your cans, paper and plastic… but turn the corner and that’s where the real fun begins. Piles of scrap wood, appliances, toilets, furniture (all categorized but free for the taking if it’s something you want) And on Sundays, I’ve seen people just hanging out sitting in the furniture section, shooting the breeze…when’s the last time you got social about your garbage? I think the only way we’re going to be able to solve our trash crisis (and thus the environmental crisis) is to make everyone more conscious AND responsible for the waste they create.

'1,000-Mile Summer' Wrap Up

2010-09-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

So the ‘1,000-Mile Summer’ officially ends tomorrow (fitting that summer officially ends tomorrow...) But how'd we do? Since June 1st, the total miles ridden on my bike topped out today at 730.6 miles, considerably less than my goal of 1,000, (though I did manage a respectable push on the last day adding an additional 20.7 miles). But even more respectable, the total number of miles DRIVEN during that same time frame: 1,421 miles—(considering 6 day weeks x 11 weeks at 28 miles round trip to work is 1,848 miles right there, plus whatever galavanting I would have done on the other 39 days). And if you include the mass transit miles into my bike mileage total, it surpasses the 1,000-mile mark easily.

But what did I learn from this experiment? First of all, it can be done--you can have a job with crazy hours and travel to and from IN LOS ANGELES by bike and mass transit. I learned its not so scary to ride at night (most areas I rode through were almost as bright as daylight, I always wore my blinky light and often even at 10p or later there were other cyclists on the road. I learned that LA has a vast mass transit system that may be flawed in many ways, but is still often faster than auto travel many days. (and seriously Transit Authority, no one except me is paying to take the subway. You should look into that.) I finally learned out how to get myself a pay-as-you-go bus/rail pass, even if it meant traveling 35 miles to the closest location, only to find out that Culver City government offices were on a work furlough that day. (Thanks to my Culver City-resident pal Dina for loading up my card and then mailing it back to me.) I learned that on days when I rode to work, I was calmer and more positive. I felt stronger top to toe (my shoulders felt way less tense) and I ate like a horse to keep up with all the calories I was consuming. I learned that I’m way more apt to ride to work when there’s a challenge involved, and this was a challenge not even backed up by peer pressure or wagering. Imagine how far I could go with a little financial incentive behind me!

Doc Review: Fuel (2008)

2010-06-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

In addition to my errands by bike this weekend, Josh Tickell’s documentary Fuel came up on my Netflix rotation and it was the perfect complement to a weekend where everyone wanted answers to what they could do about the Gulf oil spill. Made in 2008, there are some eerie statistics and images of Louisiana (did you know that an amount of crude oil the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill was released during Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area? No, that’s because no one reported it.) that seem quaint now compared to our current crisis. Tickell’s main sell is bio-diesel fuel, rather than ethanol or even gasoline-based hybrids. I got on board thinking ‘great let’s trade in the ‘brid and buy an old VW and get off oil dependency!’ but not so fast, Tickell puts the brakes on the positive side of biodiesel halway through the film by telling the audience that all the advances made to the biodiesel industry (the announcement that every single diesel engine in the country: buses, trucks, trains, could run on biodiesel today WITHOUT ANY MODIFICATION dropped my jaw) had all been shut down due to scientific studies and reports that biodiesel was not as clean and safe as everyone was led to believe. Definitely an interesting way to prove a point. In the final act, the documentary begins the uphill slog after these setbacks by giving updates on the biodiesel industry: companies that harvest used cooking oil, the planting of mega trees that have shorter growing spans and can be harvested for biomass fuel production, and the most intriguing: algae-based biodiesel farms which use waste water from other industries to grow algae quickly, cleanly and in a very small space. The film easily proves its tag line: change your fuel, change the world.

1,000 Mile Summer

2010-06-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

So in lieu of attending the big cross country rally “Hands Across the Sand” yesterday to protest offshore oil drilling (to attend I would have had to drive approximately 60 miles round trip to stand at the beach for an hour), I decided to continue with my trying not to use my car and did all my errands by bike again. Still on that same tank of gas from May 17^th, though the ‘low fuel’ light is starting to pop on and off. (Great thing about a hybrid is that light can go on and off for 20-30 miles depending on your current gas mileage). But a new realization came to me while I was riding yesterday, that I am now officially addicted to not driving my car. The more I ride my bike, the more I want to ride my bike. I had one of the best rides yesterday and I am realizing that I can do pretty much all my errands using my bike or my feet. I can go to the library (I remember once carrying 10 books home in my CamelBack). I’ve carried a 6 pack of beer and a bag of chips home in that bag too (separate occasion, of course). And this week I rode my bike to work 4 days out of 5 with my brand new computer strapped to my back. It can be done! So during yesterday’s errands (pharmacy, bank, grocery store, 2 libraries) I devised a little challenge for myself: I am naming this the “1,000 mile Summer” to see if I can ride my bike at least 1,000 miles this summer. Including what I’ve ridden this month so far, I’m up to 96, but there are at least 10 weeks to go. The big challenge is that while I would ride my bike to work every day if I could, I have a job with hours that wildly fluctuate (sometimes I’m in as early as 7am, and out as late as midnight, sometimes 6 and 7 days a week), and the summer temps in LA get up over 90º. But that’s why they call it a challenge.

Simple Solutions: Helping the Gulf and Getting Back on Track

2010-05-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

I've been out on the road for about 45 days now and while I'm the first to admit that I have slipped in my attempts to live the simplest life possible (my credit card statement is the smoking gun) I am trying to get back on track to living the life I truly believe in. News of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf region just crushed my heart this week, but in the midst of this tragedy I discovered an organization that has found an amazingly simple way to help. Matter Of Trust is an organization that has been using natural and man made surplus products in creative ways to solve ecological issues. What's so amazing about this organization is that they are collecting hair clippings (and wool and fur trimmings) to create 'hair bats' and 'hair mats' to help adsorb oil from the water. And while I don't personally have an excess of hair clippings, wool snippings or fur trimmings, there are 370,000 hair salons in the U.S. that average a pound of clippings a day. So I decided my mission this week (having a little down time here in Chicago), would be to take my daily walks armed with Hair Mat Oil Spill Program flyers and just stop by any hair salon or pet grooming place I passed. With my 20 second spiel, I let the flyer speak for itself. One salon I went to had even just been talking about the program before I walked in, and one of the pet groomers was by far the most excited about the idea. It was quite possibly the easiest and simplest environmental activism I've ever attempted.

Oopsie Poopsie...

2010-03-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

So an eco-confession to make… despite all my attempts to make the adventure cat into the eco-cat, I have begun to realize that I've made a pretty big oops. He's been eating his organic cat food since he was a mere furball, he's been using the post-consumer pine pellet cat litter and I was putting the used litter sawdust (non-feces) in the green waste recycling bin until I got the cease and desist from the city… then the sawdust was going in the worm bin. The poops, I was always dropping right into the toilet and flushing away. Unfortunately, I'm finding out now (after 10 years of reading environmental books, magazines, blogs etc…) is that flushing cat feces is actually illegal in California and probably should never enter the municipal sewer system anywhere. The issue is a parasite called Toxoplasma Gondii that many (but not all) cats carry and it can lead to Toxoplasmosis Gondii, the main reason pregnant women are told not to be the one change the litter box. There's no way to treat for the parasite's eggs at waste treatment plants and when that water heads back into the ocean, the parasite goes with it. The parasite is blamed for a high number of deaths of sea lion and sea otters.

Now from what I've read, it seems that if you have a septic system and don't live near a water body, you should be okay to flush cat poop, but if you're on the city's sewer system sadly, the only safe way to dispose of cat waste is to wrap it in plastic and send it off to the land fill. It can ONLY be composted in a pile that has temperatures over 160º or below zero, as those are the only temperatures that will kill the organisms (and NEVER use the composted material on plants that you eat). The internets are surprisingly mum on ideas on how to face this problem ecologically-there are special composting bins for dog feces but the parasites in cat feces are neglected. If some creative and scientific mind (I really have to get myself an MIT intern) could get on a solution to this problem I bet the owners of the 90 million U.S. cats would sit up and start to listen.

Why we need simplicity, now more than ever

2010-02-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

I awoke to the news of the second catastrophic earthquake to hit the western hemisphere within two months. Photos of collapsed buildings, bridges and roads are a sobering reminder of just how powerful nature can be. And earthquakes suck. A lot. There is no warning and there is almost little you can do to completely prepare for them. We are always looking for someone to blame when catastrophe strikes, but it is hard to point the finger at an enemy when an earthquake hits (though most start with construction that fails and those responsible for help that is slow in response time).
What is most frightening is the fact that both earthquakes hit in areas that had not had a major quake for centuries. It makes people wonder, 'where next'? There is most likely going to be fatigue in donations after the big push for Haiti, and with hope, I pray that the loss of life will be infinitely smaller than Haiti.

Living simply can give us the ability to prepare for the occasion when disaster strikes-conserving your money and your energy for when you may truly need it or, when it is needed to help others who cannot help themselves. You could live your life in constant fear, or you can live your life aware that it is finite and beautiful. Simplicity helps you accept that possessions are just “things”, so that if they are lost, it can be of lesser consequence. Use less resources, keep the environment clean, and pace yourself, for life is a marathon, not a sprint.

Help get “The Simplicity Connection” into the Los Angeles Public Library!

2010-02-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

Go to this link, http://www.lapl.org/forms/purchase.html and fill in the blanks (the answers are The Simplicity Connection, C.B. Davis, Trafford Publishing 2009, ISBN: 978-1-4251-4998-7) you don't even have to be a card holder to suggest a purchase. Thanks!

Reading List: Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days (Vanessa Farquharson)

2010-02-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

I picked this one up based on its title and cover, and decided to give it a fair chance because these days, I pretty much will ready anything with the word 'green' on it. The title is pretty gimmicky, most likely aimed at urban 20-somethings like Vanessa who love their designer purses and trendy cocktails but can't seem to silence the voice that reminds them of their childhood diet of environmental education. She gets kudos for taking on some big issues that I personally can't convince myself to do (giving up the car, shutting off the cable, and unplugging the fridge) but with a goal of 366 environmental challenges (the project fell on a leap year), the list is quite a bit uneven in places (like: 68. Using a natural bronzer, 250. Not using any toothpicks, 356. Going skinny dipping, and 363. Deleting all spam and stale emails from my Gmail inbox)

The highlight for me was when she got No Impact Man Colin Bevan to admit how exactly he and his family gave up using toilet paper for their own year-long challenge-information that was not included in Bevan's book or documentary and answers he would give to interviewers were always curt and left the question unanswered. She did write one of my favorite new quotes about: “the compost hitting the wind turbine”.

If you're looking for solutions, it is worth a scan only if you are new to the challenge of being more environmental but if you've been around the eco-block a time or two, the list will leave you thinking you've heard it all before. (or you can just head to her blog, which she's since stopped updating, the full list of 366 changes is: http://greenasathistle.com/green-listed/)

Go 'dils!

2010-02-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well it may be February, but spring has definitely sprung here in southern California. The daffodils have been in bloom since late January, but today was the first day over 70º and you could feel the city just breathe a sigh that the cold rains are seemingly gone. I found it a great day to pull down the curtains and run them through the wash to get rid of the winter grime. The sun gave me a new creative energy that's propelled me through the day.

2010-02-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to write about The Cove, the now Oscar-nominated documentary about dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. When first released last August, it didn't make much of a splash (no pun intended), in that it stayed mainly in the art houses and the reviews I read didn't even inspire me to drop the ten bucks to seek it out. But now, hopefully since its release on DVD and the press it will receive from award season, more people will give it a chance. I expected another activist/eco-documentary, but what I didn't expect was how affected I would be by the story. Called “Ocean's Eleven-meets-Flipper”, it follows a team of marine biologists, adrenaline junkies, high-tech filmmakers and animal activists on a journey to expose the horrific slaughter of 23,000 dolphins each year in a small inlet in Japan. The true reason for why this community feels the need to exterminate so many dolphins so brutally is not really made clear (is it because their culture depends on dolphin meat for food? Because the fishing industry fears that dolphins eat too many fish? Is it that protecting dolphins under International Whaling Commission guidelines would call more attention to Japan's whaling industry? And if any of these are actually the reason, why are they treating the cove as such a dirty little secret?)
The cast, with their movie-star good looks and top-of-the-line equipment (courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas' company that most notably created all those Star Wars movies and creatures) lead a covert operation to capture on video what hides behind the stone walls of the cove and expose to the world the truth about the slaughter. The music was beautifully done, the narrative so suspenseful it gave the plight of these animals even more urgency. I would have liked to seen more interviews with Taiji locals, surely more than just the 2 councilmen featured (and the angry fishermen who threaten the filmmakers' and cover their cameras) had some insight into why their community was a part of this practice. There is some highly graphic footage contained in the movie, but by the time you reach this part of the story, you are so drawn in by the suspense of learning the secret of the cove that can't look away. And hopefully, the world won't turn away until the slaughter stops.

Learn more about the movie
Take action
Buy the DVD at amazon.com

Jumping in the Freecycle Pool

2010-02-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I've taken the plunge and joined the other free-cyclers in my neighborhood and I have to say what a great way to both get rid of something you don't use and also try to find something you truly will use all without spending a cent. I lurked on the message boards for a few weeks before trying to decide what it was I wanted to ask for (a battery operated pump for my balance ball-still no offers though) but after seeing a WANTED post for a Roomba and realizing mine was just sitting in the utility closet collecting dust, I figured why not pass it on to someone who could appreciate it. Most freecyclers arrange time and place to make their exchanges, but the cheapest and easiest way for all parties I figured was to just leave the item on the porch and the WANTER could just pick it up at their convenience. No fuss, no muss. And no hard feelings if or when the item breaks because it's all for the low low price of FREE! And even better there's no obligation—say you really need a new blender, what do you have to lose by posting a request? If you find one, you've saved yourself the money (and the manufacture of a new product), if you don't find one, you're no worse for trying. To find a group in your area: www.freecycle.org
And Freecycle's not the only place Care2 ran a list of 5 other online free or trade sites.

2010-02-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think I'm back on track here... off for errands yesterday and despite driving to Pasadena, I managed to stumble upon everything I needed to do on my to-do list. Started the morning with a little YMCA yoga (my teacher remarked she was excited that she for once knew the teams in the Super Bowl but didn't know whether to root for the Ponies or the Angels...refilled the printer in cartridges at Cartridge World... got some organic (relatively local) fruit from Whole Foods (farmer's market most likely was canceled due to rain)... stopped at the Glendale Library to feed my addiction of eco-themed books (Cheap by Ellen Ruppel and Two Billion Cars by Daniel Sperling & Deborah Gordon)...and found a giant Salvation Army thrift store having a 50% off Saturday with which to test my new theory: "Ugly Sweater, Pretty Yarn" (so stay tuned to see if I can actually create something attractive by unraveling and re-knitting). Impact was relatively minimal, I'd say probably an 85% on the simplicity scale, best yet, it was an enjoyable way to spend a drizzly Saturday morning, which I believe is what simplicity is truly about.

2010-02-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

I’ve been feeling a little lost in my practice lately—things that I would have easily been able to handle, now they seem like a chore, or worse yet, I don’t even second guess taking the easy way out. Errands to do on my only day off, and I’m in the car driving all over the city even though it’s a beautiful sunny 65º day and everything is an easy bike ride away. I’m feeling very uninspired in my simple life and stuck with moving my book forward to the masses…I hit IKEA yesterday and came out with a bag full of stuff that I know I don’t truly need (though I can try to defend it all only closer examination 36 hours later, it really is all just disposable superfluous crap)—I can’t even blame any of it on the winter doldrums (though I suspect too many carbs and not enough exercise are partially to blame). So what to do when creativity hits the wall? Turn to those who know the challenge first hand: tonight’s viewing of No Impact Man (the documentary) sparked some embers: it’s time to get back to the farmer’s market on Saturday for local fruit. It’s time to get back to local environmental activism and volunteer. It’s time to stop taking the easy way out by cranking the heat when I’m chilly and sitting in front of the computer all day refreshing my Facebook page. It’s time to try a new motto on for size: [NOTHING NEW] and to use it as a guiding principle in moving forward. There’s big new projects on the horizon and I’m going to need all the help, guidance, and inspiration I can get.

Doc Review: Garbage Warrior (2007)

2010-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

All I can say is-wow what a week. Working on the “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon was truly both the most surreal and the most rewarding experience of my alter ego's career. (I mean it's not every day one gets to work side-by-side with George Clooney) And to top it all off, we were able to raise a lot of money for relief and recovery. Spent the weekend recovering from the emotional and exhausting roller coaster ride of live production and finally had the chance to finish watching Garbage Warrior, the 2007 documentary about Michael Reynolds, the New Mexican architect who has been creating “Earthship Biotechture” (Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills. Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.)-otherwise known as houses made of cement, used tires, and empty beverage containers. Reynolds found much resistance to his creative solution for home building from the NM legislature, but in 2004 after the Southeastern Asian tsunami, he and his crew headed to the devastated Andaman Islands where he taught locals a quick, cheap and sturdy way to build new homes. One can only hope he's already bought his ticket to Haiti and is plotting how his skills can help create new homes there as well.

Take that Swiffer!™

2010-01-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit that my kitchen floor is pretty disgusting. The linoleum is probably at least 20 years old and no matter how clean the bottom of my shoes are, it always seems to attract dirt and grime. So early on, I gave up even trying to keep it clean, just seemed simpler to let nature take it's course. And don't think I wasn't slightly jealous when I watched my friends using their fancy new Swiffer-type mops with built in cleaner in the handle. I thought, 'At last, here could be the solution to the issue at hand.' These fancy cleaning tools only run about $20 for the hardware and then $6 or $7 for the refill wipes, but before I succumbed to the temptation of just letting corporate/chemical America fix it, I decided to see what a little ingenuity (with a big dose of inspiration from the hard working Props team of AGT) would get me. The simple solution? Take an old mop (one of those rectangular sponge types), 2 rubber bands and an old terry cloth towel. Rubber band the towel to the mop head, and use a spray bottle of vinegar to hit the spots you need to clean. No rinsing, no toxic fumes, no fuss, no muss. Voila, in your face, Procter & Gamble! With this simple (and practically free) solution, now I'm at least 14% more likely to clean my kitchen floor more than once a year.

Resolving to Resolve

2010-01-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, a whole new year, a whole new decade. Wonder where that came from? I’m not really big on making resolutions on January 1… probably because I’m so busy making them the rest of the year. I mean I have list after list of things I want to accomplish (I even spent yesterday’s flu-ish day on the couch reading a book about To-Do lists. And proud of it. Sasha Cagen’s To-Do List, good read so far.) I have weekly to do lists, I have monthly to do lists, I have daily to do lists. I have list after list of things that need to get done, things I keep putting off and things I put on there just so I’ll cross them off quickly and think that I’m accomplishing something. But if I were asked to make a resolution for this year, I’m going to go with a bad habit or two—stopping my disposable plastic habit. No more take away silverware, or throwaway cups. If I’m eating out, I’m eating in and asking for it unwrapped, and bringing my own cup. I’ve failed miserably at this attempt in the past, but I think with the right amount of preparation, I can get it ingrained enough to be like bringing my own reusable bags. It’s just a matter of having the right tools on hand when you need them. So happy first day of 20-10, y’all.

A Little Holiday Recycling

2009-12-29T15:48:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for new ways to creatively recycle or reuse things that I would normally end up throwing away and I came across this tip (from the always excellent Sierra Club Magazine's The Green Life series) St. Jude's Ranch (3 centers for abused and neglected children in Nevada and Texas) has created a recycled greeting card program. From now until February 28, 2010, you can mail your used cards (any occasion: Christmas, birthday, thank you, etc…) and they will turn the “old” cards into new—removing the front of the card and replacing the back with a new blank card. Children at the center also assist in the recycling process. A great way to give new use to something that most people throw into the trash bin once the holiday season has wound down.

You can mail your donations to:
St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005
877-977-SJRC (7572)

Skipping Christmas

2009-12-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, John Grisham wrote a crappy little book called “Skipping Christmas”-in it, a couple of empty-nesters decide to 'skip Christmas' because their college-age daughter isn't coming home that year. Instead they decide to take a cruise, leave the decorations in the attic, and avoid the malls. (It was made into an even crappier movie starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis called Christmas with the Kranks.) In theory, their self-imposed ban on the holiday seemed like a nice peaceful way to celebrate… but their obnoxious neighbors belittle and berate them for their choice. They manage to hold out until (spoiler alert), the daughter announces she really is coming home. Then mayhem ensues as the couple spins out of control trying to recreate their usual standard of holiday festivities, decorations and gift giving in less than a day. See the comedy? Sigh.

This year I decided quietly that I was going to truly 'skip Christmas'. Aside from the 'avoid the malls', no decorating, no holiday cards, I wanted no pressure to be anywhere, to do anything… just be. And when you step back, you see how overbearing Christmas has become. It's now a cliché to say “we've forgotten the true meaning of the holidays” because the “true meaning” still involves commitments and traditions that can easily spiral into too much to do, not enough time to do it and not worth the stress in the long run. So this year, I said 'no' to Christmas and 'yes' to peace and simplicity instead.

Cobblers Live!: Resole America

2009-12-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone's got a favorite old pair of shoes that they love so much that they won't get rid of until you can see right through the sole to the street below, but shoes are so cheap and easy to buy that resoling is a lost art. Scan the Yellow Pages for cobblers and you're not likely to find many listings. Now though, an online service called Resole America is setting out to change all that. Using their website, you can search for your brand and request a mailer. Ship your shoes out and they agree to have them back to you in 8-10 business days. Currently there's not a huge selection of shoes listed, and the prices range between 1/3 and 1/2 the cost of a new pair, but this is a great way to give your favorite pair of shoes an extended life.

A Simple Saturday in the Big City

2009-11-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

What a great day today-spent it walking all over Georgetown (I mean that's one benefit of global warming, enjoying a 60º day in November walking around D.C…. maybe?) Needed a formal dress for the big gala in a few weeks and literally tripped (those Georgetown streets are very rocky) over a Second Time Around consignment shop and was able to find something to wear. Opted out of the beautiful brand new red satin Ralph Lauren cocktail dress (original retail: $450, here: $72) in favor of a simple black Jones NY number. (Even simplists have a fashion gene!) Total cost to me? $19.08. Did a quick climb up the 'Exorcist' stairs (oh you think you're gonna make it without losing your breath, but once you're up there you realize how winded you really are! Then despite browsing at the Georgetown Public library, (no national library cards… yet!) headed over to Books for America, a great local used book store that not only sells used books but also used the profits to make donations to local schools, shelters, correctional facilities, etc. etc. Four books in almost as new condition, cost to me? $12.72. Some days the gods of simplicity just shine down and show you the way.

Book Review: No Impact Man

2009-11-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

No Impact Man (The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes about Himself and our way of life in the process) by Colin Beavan

I'm a sucker for any book that poses a year-long eco-challenge to itself (See my reviews for: Plenty, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Not Buying It (okay I meant to review this one, but it slipped through the cracks), A Year Without 'Made in China') but what makes Beavan's book unique, is that he combines all of the challenges posed by these other books and tries them all at once. While living in New York City. With a toddler. A grand undertaking indeed. Now I realize there are people out there thinking “what a presumptuous jerk! There are people who live like that every day, not because they want a challenge, but because they have to.” But the issue is that so many people do not want to consider live as he does—eating locally, not driving or taking mass transit, not using electricity (!!), (there was also some note about also not using toilet paper but it wasn't revealed how exactly they went about this). With the title of the book 'No Impact', it's pretty big boast, but on only page 22 he admits that having 'no impact' is actually impossible, but what you learn slowly is that he can lessen his impact so much that he can make up for what waste and destruction he does create with simple actions like picking up litter along the riverfront. He won me over by not only talking the talk but walking the walk. Shutting off the electricity? That's a pretty bold maneuver. Sure I've got the worm bin chewing up my scraps and I can make less than a plastic grocery bag full of trash a month, but this guy washed his own clothes in the bathtub and read by candlelight for months. And that's pretty cool. He's a minor celebrity now, with his blog and his documentary but I'm happy to support anyone who preaches the gospel of needing to simplify your life no matter where you live and finding creative solutions to do so.

Look, I like to consider myself a fairly environmentally sound person (in the grand scheme of things) but I also don't pretend that I'm something I'm not: we all have our vices and that's a great thing about simplicity-it's not about deprivation. It's about being conscious of your actions and not allowing those vices to get out of hand. I love In-n-Out Burger, and I don't want to imagine giving it up, so instead, I use it as a treat, a reward. I also try to keep learning about creating less waste and lowering consumption and staying mindful about my actions. I also am working on my strength as an activist, so that someday I'll convince those In-n-Out folks organic meat and vegetables are the way to go, or to recycle their paper waste, or to have non-plastic options for eat in service.

Book Review: Wake Up and Smell the Planet

2009-11-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pomous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day (edited by Brangien Davis with Katharine Wroth)

Finally was able to track down this little book from the editors of grist.org (“Gloom and Doom with a Sense of Humor” or “A Beacon in the Smog” I can't figure out which tag line of theirs I like better…and no I'm not reviewing just because it'd be nice for them to return the favor, it's all altruism right now, baby.) Originally published in 2007, it's packed with no-nonsense tips on how to start and get through your day a little greener. Even a crusty old broad like me who has “picked all the low hanging fruit” of environmental tips out there was able to find some peaches in this quick (and very funny!) read. Even came across a few “oopsies” that I'll be getting into in later posts once I get my eco-wagon back on the tracks. And even if you don't have time for another book on your nightstand, check out their daily dispatches at grist.org.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE CABIN: Day 20

2009-10-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of litter here in Maine. I mean A LOT. It can never understand the rationale behind, “I'm done with this, I'm just going to throw it out the window.” And how can you not understand the bottle deposit rules? You buy your tall boy at the gas station, they charge you an extra 5 cents and when you're done, you throw that in the woods? That's like throwing a nickel in the garbage.

So I decided to try and up my Maine karma (and crotchety-old-lady-in-training status) another quart by giving a little purpose to my morning walks and doing a little litter removal. I needed just the right tool, because while I may be simplified, I may be minimalized, I sure as hell ain't touching the McDonald's cup you used as a spittoon, mister. Enter, THE GOPHER™. You know those deelies that old ladies use to get cereal off the top shelf at the grocery store? (Endorsed by the late-great Billy Mays himself!) Perfect for picking up 75 empty cigarette boxes without having to resort to the old “nail on a stick trick”. I'm just wondering how many bags of trash I have to pick up to undo the guilt that I had to go to Wal*Mart to get it!

**Note, “The Gopher” is no longer available, but “The Reacher” (it "Reaches So You Dont [sic] Have To") is…and they're exactly the same product. I smell drama here…

Time to Recycle!

2009-10-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

What to do with those things that you can't just drop into the recycle bin? Electronics? Ink cartridges? Batteries? www.earth911.org can direct you to anything you might want to get rid of but (thankfully) major retailers are getting into the eco-game.

• Home Depot accepts CFL bulbs and rechargeable batteries
• Brita has a plastic filter return program. See their website for mail back options.
• Some US Post Offices have mail back envelopes for small electronics and ink cartridges
• Nike recycles old athletic shoes
• Staples, Ikea, Best Buy all have recycling programs for ink cartridges, rechargeable batteries, small electronics.

Thanks to the latest version of the Burbank Public Works newsletter for these tips!

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE CABIN: Day 2

2009-10-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

So after a few days of beautiful fall weather, a little rain must fall. Temps are still around 45º so I'm not running back to California quite yet. (Not that it matters, the weather report says 60º and raining back there, which I'm sure feels like 45º to Angelenos.) The cabin is cozy, especially after I rigged up a sheet to cut off the kitchen from the living area. The difference is drastic-curtain up, the kitchen is a good 15º colder when the heat is on in the living area. Thankfully I figured this out on day 2 and not day 25. Suns supposed to be back out tomorrow, but I notice that temps are supposed to go below freezing tonight! Ah October in New England. I have missed you so.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE
So I'm not gonna lie, the water here smells like rotten eggs. There, I said it. I was left a note saying it's “Safe for drinking, cooking and bathing…but here's 25 gallons of bottled water just in case that's your preference.” I'm going for the drinking and cooking with bottled and hoping if I smell of sulfur everyone here is too polite to mention it. Bummer that in the land that provides water to the eastern seaboard, I can't even filter to drink what comes out of the tap.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE CABIN: Day 1

2009-10-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

To say this little vacation is Thoreauvian would be presumptuous; We’ve got running water, electricity, a television (w/ VCR and DVD player… sadly no cable though). Thoreau lived within 2 miles of Concord, MA … I’ve got a Shaw’s and a CVS 5 miles down the road and year-rounders on all sides of me. While my cabin has 4 small rooms and a sun porch, his cabin was only 10’ x 12’. But in our society of sensory overload, this might be as close as I can get to Thoreauvian solitude (without heading further up into the Maine woods) Everyone has one of two reactions to my little undertaking: either “Why?!” or “Hmm, that’s kinda cool”. I’ve got a trunk full of projects to keep me busy and I know that I would be distracted too much if I were at home in L.A. I am also the type of person who thrives in situations where I’m forced to be a little creative to get along and spend time recharging my batteries.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 6 & 7

2009-10-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Erie, PA -> Auburn, MA
What many people don't realize is just how big New York state is…on this trip, I have driven more miles in NY than I have in Colorado or Nebraska. I did a double take as I crossed the state line after leaving Erie… 450 miles to New York City?! The additional wonder of the New York Thruway is the deceiving toll ticket you get as you enter the state: wow, only $3… but that only gets you to Buffalo. They have graciously waived the toll fees around the Buffalo area, but continue on through and that toll ticket the size of a Pop Tart is back in your hand. And while other states have adopted the exit number equals the road mileage, the NY Thruway has 59 exits spread over that 450 miles. There were also so many vehicles with Ontario license plates I wondered if Canada was closed for the weekend. Not even the promise of the end of the journey could make this day finish soon enough. It rained from start to finish and worst of all, the only traffic I encountered in almost 3,000 miles was on the last 30 miles of today as I sat on the Mass Pike and inched toward my friends and family.

DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 7
And on the 7th day, we will rest… eventually. Just a short jaunt up the Maine Turnpike and we are home for the month. One of those beautiful New England fall days that make you gasp from how beautiful it is-rainbow of foliage colors, backed with a bright blue sky peppered with just-the-right amount of fluffy clouds. And for the first time in a long time, I can breathe.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 4 & 5

2009-10-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Day 4 (Grinnell, IA to Elkhart, IN)
Nice to awake to a fairly easy day of driving-and break it up in the middle with lunch in Chicago with my sister. The “I” states are smooth sailing-hit cruise control and sail on through to Ohio… well stopping for tolls of course. Wish I was able to order my automated toll transponder in time for this trip, they save so much time when you're on the road and plus it helps take your mind off how much it actually costs you in tolls when you're not forking over the money at every toll booth. (FYI cost of tolls from California to Illinois? $0. Cost of tolls from Illinois to Maine? $52.05. Maybe California wouldn't be in such debt if we started charging the people who drove more. Just sayin'.)

Day 5 (Elkhart, IN to Erie, PA)

Had a later start this morning (okay maybe 7:30 a.m. isn't that late but it took awhile for my cell phone to figure out what time zone we were in). Today's a day where I am reminded why I do these trips every year: it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. It's not about how many miles I can make in a day, but it's about this moment: this 8:04am on a Thursday morning with the sun trying to push it's way into the sky. It's about getting off the interstate for a few miles and riding the back roads of Michigan and taking time to breathe for a bit. Even better is ending the day visiting with a good friend… unfortunately that visit has to take place in the smoky bars of Pennsylvania (well it doesn't *HAVE* to, but tradition dictates). One forgets how poorly one's body processes cigarette smoke when one hasn't been around it in months and months.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 3

2009-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

An early morning back on the road after a frustrating day 2 (even more frustrating when I find out after the fact that a good friend lives in an area I drove through yesterday, grrr.) Strangely enough, the sketchier the hotel room I stay in, the better night of sleep I usually get. Or maybe by day 3 I'm just so exhausted I'll sleep though anything. Trying to get out of the northeast Denver area continues to be frustrating because even at 6:30 a.m. the streets are packed and drivers are aggressive. But perseverance pays off and soon I'm back to being one of the only cars on the interstate, traveling through what Kerouac calls “the middle of coyote nowhere”.

Speaking of which, I popped the audio book of On the Road into the iPod and got to listen to Matt Dillon read to me for 2 straight days about the Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity. Not a bad way to pass the empty miles. Nebraska is amusing in that you will drive over 400 miles of interstate and not see one vanity license plate… until you get to Omaha, and then it seems everyone has one.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 2

2009-10-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Up and ready to face the day-southern Utah to deal with and then lots and lots of Colorado. The first few hours of the day I barely pass anyone on the roads. I went over a half hour at one stretch not seeing a single other car on the same side of the interstate-what a drastic change from Los Angeles. More cars speed past me with their bike racks making me miss mine even more. I can see it sitting there in pieces in my kitchen. So sad.

Colorado has a tendency to make me lose my mind-the altitude probably has something to do with it, but this trip especially, I just found very frustrating. Hills are not my car's best friend and long slow inclines to 11,000 feet are a sort of torture. I made the mistake of pulling over to a chain up area to take this photo, and trying to get back up to speed (let's say… 30 mph) well, it would have been faster to get out and push the car up and over the Vail Pass. But Colorado at least is gorgeous to look at while you're losing your mind. I'm slightly sad this trip because this route reminds me of the last trip through Colorado in the days before I had a wifi card, where I was stopping at every small town library to use their internet to send emails back to work. I must have stopped 5 or 6 times in towns like beautiful quaint Georgetown (tiny little storefront library which was closed when I got there), Glenwood Springs (where a neighbor had named their wifi with a dirty version of the library's name) Fruita (where I sat on a children's chair trying to work before they closed). It was actually a fun challenge getting off the interstate and then trying to instinctually find the local library… I would give myself 5 minutes of driving around to find the sign that pointed me in the right direction until I'd cave in and ask directions. Just another way technology continues to speed our lives up.

SIMPLIFIED DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD: Day 1

2009-10-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I set off for another cross country jaunt, nothing too novel or pioneering, as this would be my 26th cross country trip in 14 years and I had a 6 day time limit to make it from LA to Maine. Packing the car up I was concerned that all the “stuff” I was bringing with me was going to add serious weight to my car and cause my gas mileage to plummet. I had this vision of my car looking like the Clampett’s as they putt-putted into California. I looked at the bags and bags of stuff, trying to figure out what I could do without for 3 months. I mean, I was trying to advocated simplicity… one woman should not need this much stuff. Sadly, the first thing to go was my bike. As much as I hated to leave it behind, I know where I’m going it’s going to be COLD. And I know that riding my bike while making me temporarily warm, leaves me freezing for the rest of the day. So while my bike doesn’t weigh that much (under 20 lbs) it did free up the room so that I could now see out the rear view mirror. I played the camping game: what do you really really need? And we were off! Me, adventure kitty, and my traveling companion The Los Angeles Roaming Gnome. We hit the 15N (for the 3rd time this year) and the wind kicked up in Devore—we watched as new fires kicked up in the mountains and I was truly happy to be moving away from that destruction. That wind however pushed us all the way to our destination: Beaver, UT, 500 miles at over 57 mpg. Satellite TV was knocked out by the wind when we got there, which we were slightly bummed about (Gnome and I enjoy watching The Amazing Race…) but it was nice to just sit and be peaceful for a night. Tomorrow, we head to Colorado and hopefully Nebraska.

Special note about Beaver, UT: not only the childhood home of Butch Cassidy, (I looked for the cabin but my keen eyes could not spot anything at the location I got off the interwebs) and it also claims to have the Best Tasting Water in America. Not bad I have to say and it’s a good place to fill up the canteens for the long drive tomorrow. No more plastic bottles!!

Simple Pleasures: The National Parks

2009-09-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s true, I’m a big old National Parks dork. I read all of Nevada Barr’s Ranger Anna Pidgeon mystery novels. I’ve got the handy-dandy little passport book that I can have stamped at every park I visit. I’m kinda proud of this fact, which probably makes me an even bigger dork. So imagine my glee for the premiere of Ken Burns’ 6 part documentary series: The National Parks: America’s Best Idea on PBS this week (all episodes are also available online as well). Oh how excited a NPS dork like myself is. Say what you want about Burns’ style (that it never changes, that he only seems to interview old white male writers for their opinions, that he’s a narcissist for having his name attached to the title of all his documentaries), he does spin a damn good narrative. And there’s something about his technique of taking photographs that are well over a century old and making them more beautiful than anything the most current and most expensive equipment could take.

No More White Pages…Evah!

2009-09-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

I can’t remember the last time I used the white pages… but it was certainly not in this millennium. Yet, twice a year, I still wake up one morning to find a big stack of phone books on my doorstep. For what? Is there really anything in print that you cannot find online these days? Banthephonebook.org is out to stop the needlessly wasteful production of phone books. The stats are simple: 5 million trees cut down each year to make the white pages, $17 million spent on recycling services. A simple solution is the opt-in program, where consumers can personally request the white pages if they want one, while everyone else is spared delivery. Sign the petition at Banthephonebook.org.

Junk Mail

2009-09-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

It’s that time of year again, when my direct mail “Do Not Contact” notifications run out. (and yes, I am the type of person who keeps track of when I submit DNC notices. You shouldn’t be surprised by now.) For 11 months of the year, I am blissfully free of those unwanted flyers and newsprint ads for things I could never need (Carpet cleaning? Botox? Clairvoyancy services?). So off I head to www.clippermagazine.com and to do my yearly update. (interestingly enough, in the last year they have added a Facebook fan page, a Twitter page and a “Clipper Blog”) No offense to my good friends at the Postal Service (and yes, I do solemnly swear I care deeply about saving your jobs), but the amount of direct mail in this country that goes directly into the trash would probably reforest the 170,000 acres of wildfire-ravaged Angeles National Forest.
For your reduction in junk mail: visit
Clipper Magazine:
Direct Mail Association’s Page: (Good site that covers a whole lot of unsolicited mail that you may be getting. You can select what type of mail you want to get (or not get) magazine offers, credit card offers, etc.)
Valassis

2009-09-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

So in an effort to practice what I preach, it’s time to start using the book to keep myself accountable. This week, it’s #6 on the Budgeting List (p. 68)…”Waking Up” and realizing what your bills really mean. Case in point, I noticed that my health insurance premiums had DOUBLED in the past year, (and not just because I’m hitting that milestone birthday this year that’s kicking me out of one bracket and into another), so a quick (okay 4 quick… if 20 minutes each is quick) call to the home office and we come to learn that I can knock my premiums back down to previous levels just by removing the “maternity” clause. Things they won’t tell you (should I have to ask if prostate exams are covered too?) It all comes back to know exactly what you’re paying for or else you’re probably paying for something you don’t need.

Celebrate Good Times (jazz hands) Come On!

2009-09-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

We’re off and running now! Finally wrapped up the big show and now it’s time to celebrate the rest of life. First up, the ‘West Coast Book Party’—October 3rd. Hopefully lots of old friends will be in attendance, so that I can say ‘so long for awhile’ before heading out on the road again for a 3 month cross country trip and visit to the east coast (and hopefully the East Coast Book Party!) One of the most exciting realizations of the past week is how (finally) I have accomplished something so empowering before my milestone birthday this weekend. It’s kind of a great feeling.

At last: The Simplicity Connection goes live!

2009-09-07T13:18:00.001-07:00

Huzzah! After much ado, we are finally in print! Wasn’t quite expecting that it would take 9 years of blood, sweat and tears, but looking back I wouldn’t change how it was done at all. Self-publishing has allowed me to keep control of my creation (and doing my own book layout taught me a new skill that I could probably turn into a small sideline business). It’s a great feeling to finally see something you’ve worked so hard on come to fruition. And as the big show winds up it’s run, I hope to be better about updating and organizing my thoughts. Lots of time off on the horizon, so watch this space!

2009-07-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

As I continue to spend my days “letting go”, today I finally decided it was time to give up the ghost that the apartment handyman was going to stop by and fix the broken sprinkler heads. A quick trip to Lowe’s (okay, 2 quick trips… I need to learn how to measure things before I head out of the house) and I was able to replace the broken and the missing sprinkler heads all by myself. I was also even able to adjust them properly so that they’re not shooting at the sidewalk or into the apartment windows. Sometimes simplicity is just getting off your butt and getting the job done on your own. My only regret that I was letting the broken sprinklers waste so much water for so long…but now I know, that when the World’s Worst Gardeners steal/destroy these new sprinkler heads, that it takes only $3, 5 minutes and a wrench to fix the problem.

Letting it Go

2009-07-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

On the same theme of getting super-simplified this weekend I’ve also come up with a brilliant idea this week, one that I like to call “LET IT GO”. I’m not even going to go into the details of why I came up with it, or what I am using it for, because both of those go against what “LET IT GO” is all about. So now, anytime I find myself thinking about something that is making me mad, I just stop, say “LET IT GO” and try to move on. It doesn’t always work very well, but then I just say “LET IT GO” again and continue along my way. So far it’s going okay, but I know the real test will be once I get back to work full time. It’s just another way of reminding myself that life is too short to be wasting time stressing over things that in the grand scheme, just do not matter at all.

Hot Fun in the Summertime... without the burn

2009-07-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

As someone who loves to spend as much time as possible outdoors, (especially during those sunny hours) I know how important having a good sunscreen can be. After having adverse reactions to commercial brands in the past (getting laid up with fatigue for an entire day after one application) I decided to check out the natural options offered by Whole Foods as well as the “healthy” baby options offered by responsible companies. My two choices Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection Sunblock Lotion (SPF 55) and Kiss My Face Face Factor Paraben Free (SPF 30) seemed to rectify the exhaustion factor, but I am now learning from a recently published list by The Environmental Working Group of their dangers. The new report rates 660 different sunscreens on a scale of 0-10 (0 the best, 10 the worst) and my two choices received a 5 and a 4 respectively. In fact only 2 sunscreens they tested received the perfect score of 0. Less than 20 received a 1. Even scarier are the new realizations that the chemicals in many sunscreens are destroying water quality. So what to do to still enjoy the sun and get your daily dose of Vitamin D, but keep yourself safe from overexposure? Big hat, avoid the midday hours, and pick a safe sunscreen to reapply every several hours

Just another simplified weekend.

2009-07-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, are we getting our ducks in a row this weekend. I am actually finally at a place in my life where I am so organized that I can actually accomplish everything that needs to get done before it needs to get done. Granted my list of to-do’s are pretty low priority to begin with, but that’s the perk of being super-simplified… not only do you get things accomplished more easily, but you begin to realize that most of our tasks are actually low priority. So the compost has been taken out, the cat’s nails have been trimmed, the smoothie’s been blended, work emails have been responded to, computer files have been organized. What else to do on a stiflingly-hot 93º July day? Ah yes, be still.

Link of the Day: "There I Fixed It!"

2009-07-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

I’m a personal fan of jury-rigging (or jerry-rigging or MacGyvering as it is often known as and There I Fixed It is the site for exhibiting only the most ridiculous repair jobs that actually… well kinda work. The yellow bungee cord I had holding my bumper on for 5 years has nothing on these creative handy men and women. Just a sampling of some of the most creative: Here we have the real reason I think the El Camino was made for:

Followed by what to do if you lose a head light:

And last but not least—in fact this one is actually pretty aesthetically pleasing, and I can see Restoration Hardware mass-producing these for next season:

All of these ideas are great because not only do they keep a product that might otherwise be thrown away still working, but they use materials on hand to make the fix. The ultimate in recycling!

Simplicity Project of the Day: Make Your Own Candles, the Easy Way

2009-06-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am chemically sensitive to pretty much everything, but nothing so much as when I come within 20 yards of a scented candle. (and those of you with more than 50 of said scented candles in your abode, prepare to be mocked heartily by me, from your front porch.) It probably stems from the fact that scented candles were one of the initial triggers to my chemical sensitivity problems, way back in the salad days of 1993, having to work the register at Deluca’s on Charles Street in Boston next to a candle display that I’m pretty sure no one ever patronized (then again it is rumored that Deluca’s had some, let’s say “connections”, so I don’t think it really mattered what did or did not get sold). But, long story short (too late) I enjoy candles as much as the next gal, but it’s pretty limited in terms of eco-friendly, non-toxic, non-petroleum based and inexpensive options. So I developed my own solution by recycling the old aluminum tea light cups from a batch of Ikea paraffin candles, prying out the wick holders, cutting new wicks (and rethreading) from hemp twine, and then ordering a pound of beeswax pellets to fill the cups up. Sure, you can buy a big block of beeswax for slightly cheaper, but melting it down or chopping it up gets messy and time consuming. This way, you can make the candles as you go and even reuse the same cups if need be.

2009-06-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

It’s been a good week for ‘playing things by ear’, another favorite benefit of having a simplified life. Granted I’m quasi-unemployed this week, but having a simplified life makes being quasi-unemployed a lot less stressful. So when I hear a friend is in town for only 24 hours, it’s not an effort to hop in the car and grab a quick lunch down by the beach. And if I needed to kill some time, I can always do my daily exercise by taking a walk on the sand. (I also delight that I actually travel with a few bathing suits in my gym bag and sunscreen in my purse, so that I could have spent the whole day out there, if it had not been so windy) Always traveling with a book makes waiting in line or having my oil changed not so much of an inconvenience any more. And preparing myself for having to spend the day at jury duty with enough projects to keep me entertained for a good 8 hours means it’s a nice surprise that I can hang out at the Central Library (one of my favorite places) when I’m released early.

2009-06-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

A bummer of a day yesterday: the world’s worst gardeners, as my apartment handyman quotes his wife: “They mow, blow and go,” in our case, they mow over sprinkler heads, blow what they’ve trimmed around and then go before picking it up… all in under ten minutes, start to finish. The ultimate landscaping abuse came as I awoke to find my beloved lavender bush severed in two—why on earth they would cut the green fertile top off, leaving the branches below that are clearly past their prime. I’m disheartened by the incident because I raised that lavender from small plant—in 6 years, it’s grown to 10 times its original size, more importantly, I transplanted it to outside my bedroom window where not only did its size create a barrier between errant sprinklings from the sprinklers (when of course that sprinkler head was functioning) but created shade from the sun, a screen from anyone who might want to look in my window and best of all peaceful fragrant relaxing lavender scent. It’s too soon to tell whether it is all going to grow back but if anyone can tell me how to say: “Trim this again and I’ll have you fired” in Spanish, that’d be a help.

2009-06-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been neglecting my blog updating lately, but not without good reason, I’ve either been working or I’ve been doing little projects around the apartment to help make life a little more simplified. Nothing too involved, and yes, I am that person who is crazy enough to seam rip open the bottom of a shower curtain liner to soak the plastic strip inside in hydrogen peroxide to bleach out the red tide disease growing in there rather than go out and buy a whole new one. There, so I saved $6. Who’s the crazy one now? But that’s the gist of most of the little projects: taking some silly problem (like red algae) and trying to come up with a solution using what I have on hand to fix it. Would it have been easier to throw a new shower curtain liner in the cart next time I went to Target? Possibly. (Remembering to actually do so might not be so easy…) But the feeling that I know how to fix this problem makes me feel kinda good too. Waiting for a friend to finally remember to bring me a step ladder could take another 6 months, while dragging the coffee table out to the stoop to stand on accomplishes the same thing in seconds. Ditto with getting the building handyman to come by to cover up the greasy ceiling vent over my stove… the piece of aluminum foil I attached may make Martha Stewart roll her eyes, but at least I don’t have fan belt oil dripping in my pasta water anymore. I’ve put too much stuff off on my ‘to-do’ list because I’m waiting for the right tool to magically appear or the moment when I can justify the expense for the quick fix. I’m learning now that with a little patience and a few moments thinking about the problem creatively, I can do it myself for a fraction of the cost.

Homesteading continues...

2009-06-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

Well after my first attempt at sweater making, I got more confident and decided I could probably do better than my first attempt (so much so that I've already unraveled that first sweater and I'm using the yarn for another project!) The 2nd attempt I took the lessons I learned from the first version (the yarn I originally chose seemed too thin and I would be more likely to wear a big warm fluffy sweater instead) so First Sweater version 2.o is just such: in my favorite color: grass green, it's a big foofy good for a cool fall day (or an overcast June Gloom Friday as the case may be.) Best part of this project is that I'm really learning to adapt to the design issues I come up against. For example, knitting the sleeves as the pattern called, I ended up with armpits down to my midsection. After unraveling and re-knitting with slight changes to the pattern (4 times!) I finally came up with a solution that seemed to work and makes my project much more likely to be worn outside of the house (in fact I've already gotten my first complement! :)

Homesteading: Part Deux

2009-05-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

Finished my first sweater a few weeks ago: and thanks to Knitting Pretty's 'Simple Sweater' pattern it was a piece of cake. And since it was so easy, not sure if I want to save it as a sweater or start unraveling to use the yarn for something else (it's too hot for an alpaca/acrylic sweater now!) But look out... now I'm ready to make more!

2009-05-05T21:22:00.001-07:00

This homesteading thing is going pretty well—after being out of town for 11 days and just allowing the crops to get watered by the sprinklers, look at this! I made lettuce! (see it there, it's on the far left) Snap peas are coming up and the tomato plant is about 5 times the size it was when I left. I could get used to this lazy gardener thing.

2009-04-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

It seems we have sped right past spring here in LA and are now deep in the throes of summer. (How’s this for weather yoyos, last week I was trying to relight my heater’s pilot light because I was so cold, this week it’s 99º.) But the sun is good for something—first round of crops are starting to spring up: this year’s mini-garden includes lettuce, tomatoes, basil, peppers, strawberries and snap peas. First strawberry of the year consumed: 100 times tastier than anything bought at the grocery.

2009-04-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today’s mini-dilemma to tackle? How to mail out 4 book-sized birthday presents without any envelopes? I knew this was a challenge I was up to—first, I found in the recycling bin a padded envelope and a small box that I get mailed DVDs in: old addresses covered with new mailing labels, a few staples and some packing tape and they were good to go. Second, I started to fashion a new box by refolding an old cracker box and got so far as gluing 3 sides together before a knock on the door revealed another DVD delivered in a padded envelope. (How the universe provides, sometimes when you don’t need it to!) And finally, the last package was slightly larger but more flexible than the others, so a used Tyvek mailer turned inside out would probably be the best option—the great thing about Tyvek is that it is so tough you can’t rip it, the bad thing is that not many people realize how easy it is to reuse them. And don’t want to use Fedex or Priority Mail for your shipping needs? Just turn them inside out and you’ve got your own generic brand mailer. The ease of this challenge made me wish I had more things to mail out— I could see reusing the tough plastic bags the cat litter comes in as a substitute mailer and I always keep a stash of kraft paper on hand in case I need to wrap a package for mailing. It’s amazing how much one can accomplish if you just take a few moments to work out the problem.

Service Saturday

2009-04-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Today’s service project through Tree People was planting 30 shade trees in a local neighborhood (I have finally learned my lesson that I can no longer participate in any mountain-based projects or face the repercussions of full-body poison ivy again…) and while I was a little fussy about the fact that we were planting trees in one of the most well-off neighborhoods in the valley, (with an impressive most-likely Earth Day related turn out of volunteers) it was explained that anyone can have this type of event organized, it just requires a little community coordination. (Interesting note, met a girl who grew up one town over from where I grew up and went to the same college as I did, both on the east coast…small world) I was also skeptical of the over-eager event leader’s claim that it is a scientific fact that when you give a tree a name it has a better chance of growing healthier, something I was not about to buy into at 9am on a Saturday morning. But scientific proof pending, I did notice how quickly the local residents got into naming the trees near their properties. A man who had to be about 85 or 90 came out in his wheelchair and watched us work and promptly named his nearby tree “Gloria”. Another family named the 3 on their curb “Kelly”, “Ralph” and “Ginger” after dogs that had passed on. And another resident christened “Dwayne”, after Dwayne Allman, of course. I know I’ll be driving by in the future, especially to check up on Gloria, because that hole was a real bitch to dig.

Kindred Spirit Series

2009-04-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I would start a new blog series here about people I come across out there in the that I can totally relate to. So without further ado, please welcome the KINDRED SPIRIT SERIES. Our inaugural spirit is Jenna Woginrich, author of Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life, a great little book about how anyone can homestead, regardless of where you live. Jenna wrote the book while living in apartment in Idaho and beginning her journey into homesteading by accumulating chickens, sled dogs, honey bees and a love for heritage music and instruments. She now apparently lives in Vermont and blogs from her new home The Cold Antler Farm. As someone who always wanted their own sheep and bees, Jenna’s story makes me realize that a connection to traditional ways is not impossible, no matter what your ZIP code is, what your job is, and no matter how much technological and sensory overload invades our lives.

Simple solutions to simple problems

2009-04-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Couple cool realizations this week, all simple, healthy and proven effective!
• After trying a bunch of times to get rid of several years of calcited water on an antique piece of Spode China, after scrubbing and scrubbing, to no avail, just simply submerging it in a bath of vinegar for less than 12 hours, the residue wiped right off. (Saw the same cup and saucer on eBay for $32!)
• Inspiration struck while feeling “facially congested” tonight: My pores feel so stuffed up, that my forehead is literally lumpy! Knowing that sugar is a great facial scrub, I mixed it with about 2 tsps of Dr. Bronner’s soap and made a nice paste to scrub the dead skin away and open the pores. I don’t know why more facialists don’t use sugar in their treatments, your skin never felt so soft!
• Another beauty tip—adding a teaspoon (or two) of olive oil makes any body, hand or foot lotion even better. One use and I already have smoother skin.
• I hate, hate, HATE, cleaning my bathtub—doing the dishes used to be my least favorite chore, but I’ve learned to enjoy the Zen-ness of dishwashing and there’s also the fact that it is a productive chore—you start with dirty dishes, you end with clean dishes. With the darn bathtub, it just never seems to get fully clean, unless you start with all new tiles. So after ripping out the old crusty black grout, I wondered what the best way to keep the new grout looking white and clean. The answer was so simple and there all along: I’ve been a tub squeegee-er for years, but everyone knows that squeegees get most of the water, but not all of the water. The solution, squeegee first, then wipe down with an old towel. So easy, why didn’t I think of it years ago?

No More Plastic Bottles...evuh!

2009-03-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

So I've had it. I'm usually pretty good about not buying bottled water, but when I travel it seems to be all one can do. After many trips where my system adversely reacted to the change in minerals in local water, I thought sticking to the bottled stuff was the way to go. But after going through airport security at Burbank Airport, I needed to quench my thirst. None of the news stands carry water any longer, so I was stuck with going to a cafe for my water selection. I picked a small (16.9 oz) bottle of Crystal Geyser and was told "That'll be $2.72."

*GASP* I was floored. Too floored to even storm out shouting, "That's highway robbery," dramatically, with a flourish of my cape. So I handed over my money and drank that bottle of water (at 16 cents an ounce), in 2 minutes flat (it was a 1.5 mile walk from home to the airport) and resolved never again. I headed to the restroom and promptly filled my aluminum bottle and the empty Crystal Geyser bottle with tap water. And you know what? It tasted just fine. I didn't grow gills on the plane.

Spending the week on location in New York, I put my new tap water only theory to the test, where, it didn't matter so much because New York City has one of the most highly rated municipal water supplies in the country. Of course, I was lucky enough to have someone running to the spigot for me every hour to refill my bottle, so first chance I got, I picked up a new SIGG 1 liter bottle... which is almost as light as a plastic bottle, is washable, reusable and a fashion statement and conversation starter. The $25 price tag is small potatoes, especially when I can recoup that cost in less than 10 bottles of airport water.

Reading List: "Greasy Rider: Two dudes, one fry-oil-powered car, and a cross country search for a greener future." (Greg Melville, 2008)

2009-03-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

When Greg Melville needed a new car, he and his wife decided to try a greener route: why not buy an old diesel powered automobile and convert it to use 100% vegetable oil as fuel. Once they secured a 1985 Mercedes wagon and retrofitted it with a Grease Car system, Greg grabbed a friend (Iggy) and set out on a cross country road trip (Vermont to California with a few detours) to be (what he thinks) the first person ever to cross the nation in a vehicle solely powered by used vegetable oil. (Seems weird that it’s taken someone this long to come up with this challenge, and even the author prefaces every mention of it with “we think”). Converted Grease Cars are an intriguing idea, as they do keep (usually) older vehicles out of the waste stream and prevent a least one new car from being purchased. But more important is to realize is that they use 100% used cooking oil, (a waste product that most fast food restaurants actually pay to have taken away) to power a car and that is pretty darn cool.
The whole book feels a little thin—it feels that he had to fill it up with a lot of side trips that had nothing to do with the challenge (who cares if a college friend they visit turns out to be gay?) The “errands” that Iggy challenges Greg with are interesting enough (a trip to Google headquarters would make any eco-nerd salivate) but we’re still left wondering what happened to the bio-wagon after the cross country trip. It’s a nice story that does prove it can be done, you just have to WANT to do it; to quote Iggy “…if two goobers like us can actually get in a car and drive across the country without fossil fuels or putting a lot of carbon into the air, the answers for sustainability are easier than people think.”

Weeding the Mountain

2009-03-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

So this month’s day of service I spent out with the friends of Tree People literally weeding the forest. I was skeptical at first but figured there has to be a logical reason why we would be pulling up perfectly healthy green plants—in an area so prone to wildfires, why would we want to get rid of something that is not brown and crispy?? The answer lies in the target of our attack: mustard greens and yellow thistles are both invasive plants to our region that are so toxic to the soil that their presence can kill native flora and even some animals. In an area in danger of drought conditions, these nasty weeds also “steal” water from the ground, so they had to go. Tree People insists on leaving the nutrients from the uprooted weeds in situ, so that the nitrogen from their leaves can do some good for native plants. (I’m trying to remain Zen about the fact that I have contracted a poison ivy-like rash all over my arms and legs during the weed pulling extravaganza…)

Reading List: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (Barbara Kingsolver, 2007)

2009-02-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Continuing with my habit of reading any book that consists of an environmentally-themed personal challenge, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, fell right into that category. Kingsolver (most notably the author of The Poisonwood Bible) sets out with her family to eat only either what they can grow themselves or what was created locally (150 miles seems to be their “local radius”) for one year. Unlike the couple in Plenty (known as the “100-mile dieters”) Kingsolver and clan have a Kentucky farmhouse and enough knowledge of animal husbandry and agriculture to support it. (They also seem to handle issues with each other much better than the Plenty couple did.) Their admirable quest is made even more interesting by their commitment to heirloom varieties. Anyone can throw a handful of agro-conglomerate seeds in the ground and tend what grows, but it takes real patience to hunt down and nurture varieties that are all but extinct and unknown to the average American. (Most notably, instead of raising Broad-Breasted White Turkeys [which is what over 99% of all American turkey meat is] and instead raise Bourbon Reds, an heirloom variety. They must try to re-awaken the mating instinct that has essentially been bred out of the bird due to artificial insemination.)

While she insists that their lives were more than planting, hoeing, weeding, watering, picking and canning, the reader is left somewhat in doubt. (There are just not enough hours in the day to hold down a full time job and support a farm this size.) But for the average American with a small corner of land or room for a few containers for gardening, it is an otherwise inspiring tale of truly creating your own food supply.

Simpler or Too Fast?

2009-02-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

So I got this new little toy for my computer… A wireless USB connection card that allows me to be online wherever I want (provided there’s a cell phone signal in the area). After spending the last 10 years dialing up whenever I wanted to be online at home or having to stop at public libraries while driving cross country to check my email, this is a radical change for me. I’ve resisted upgrading for years in order to save money ($20 for a phone line sure beats whatever the going rate for DSL and wireless networks are—over that 10 year period, I’ve easily saved thousands of dollars) but now it’s time to enter the 21st century. I’m a little saddened that I will lose that time that I would spend waiting for websites to load that I would usually get up and move around the apartment, multi-tasking as I waited. Will I fill that time that I don’t need to wait anymore with something productive? Or will I just waste more time online looking for things I don’t really need or want? Will the fact that I got impatient that it took 5 minutes for a page to load before be supplanted by getting upset if a page doesn’t now load in 30 seconds? Will this new technology really make my life simpler or make it go too fast?

Farmers Markets, Food Waste and Getting the Garden Growin'

2009-02-25T19:23:00.000-08:00

For a while now, I've been planning on finally 'walking the walk' and getting myself to a farmer's market in the area. Of course, all the procrastinating was unnecessary since there is one right in my town, not 2 miles from my house. Every Saturday morning (rain or shine!) local vendors set out their pop up tents and display their horticultural wares. Some are organic, some merely boast they are pesticide-free, but all are merchants that are hands on participants in their products' creation. (Take that Ralph's produce department!) Okay, so I have some work to do to learn more about where my food comes from, but the farmer's market is the right step in the right direction. After perusing for a bit, I settled on a basket of strawberries (lots of fresh smoothies this week), a basket of grape tomatoes (good in Mexican dishes), and a couple organic pears (which I don't know why I don't eat more of, they are one of my favorite fruits). My fear with the quantities they sell is that I will end up tossing most of what I buy because I'm just one person that doesn't eat it fast enough before it goes south. (The tomatoes are the only thing left, but they're starting to get pretty squishy) So I'm trying to plan out meals before I select a particular produce for some variety. (Strawberry smoothies are great, but 3 days in a row seems to be the maximum amount of time I can stand them). I pride myself on not needing a garbage disposal, mostly because I am very conscious of how much food I waste, and whatever food that starts that detour south before I can eat it goes directly to the worm bin. With any luck this year's garden will start to take root shortly: Pea plants and sunflowers have started to sprout, a few other seedlings have begun germinating (oh why don't I label them better!) and once the worm castings are spread out on the new plants, mystery plants will also start cropping up as well. It is the most wonderful time of year. :)

For a farmers' market near you: click here for the searchable site.

2009 Resolutions: Give a Little Bit

2009-02-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

After my trip to Ye Olde Tax Preparer this year, I was stunned to see how little I made in charitable contributions last year. And in this “ECONOMIC CLIMATE” what’s going to suffer most are the organizations that rely on contributions to survive. So this year, I’m going to challenge myself to make at least one donation a month, for 12 months to a cause near and dear to my heart. January I’ve already written about my fated donation to the team behind Gregg’s documentary, but February I think I’m going to select my local YMCA. I’ve been pretty much a lifelong member of one Y or another (back when mom threw me into swim lessons at 6 months of age), and I have seen first hand what a membership can for a person. Bally’s or 24 Hour Fitness may be the place to be if you’re looking to turn your workout into a social event, but the Y is the place to be if you want your membership dollars to directly benefit your community.

Reading List: "Confessions of An Eco-Sinner" & "Where Am I Wearing"

2009-02-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

While being waylaid with a chest infection, I’ve had plenty of time to sack out on the couch and catch up on some light reading. Well, and with the absence of any fluffy tomes on my reading list, instead I picked a couple of “where my stuff is from” books. Both “Where Am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories and People That Make Our Clothes” (Kelsey Timmerman, 2008) and “Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff” (Fred Pearce, 2008) give the reader an insight into where and how everyday items are created. Both books covered “sweatshop” conditions but both challenged the notion that “sweatshop” is always a bad concept. Timmerman traveled to China, Bangladesh, and Honduras to uncover how his favorite items of clothing were made. What I liked most about his book was the photographs and stories he included about the real workers. And while the conditions that these workers are exposed to are what we consider low pay, long hours and toxic working conditions, he debates that if there was a boycott on the items that they make, these people would have even less than they have now.

Pearce’s book expands the search from clothes to other consumer goods such as coffee, computers, where his trash goes and even where his wedding ring came from. His book also opened my eyes to things I never knew existed (did you know there is a gold mine in South Africa that has supplied more gold to the planet than anywhere else on earth and that at any time there are 60,000 men working underground?) but also changed my mind on conventional thinking: (they have noted that it takes less energy to make virgin paper from trees than it takes to recycle old paper into new, that if everyone on the planet emitted as much carbon as the average Chinese person, there would be no climate crisis, that around polluted sewage drains there seem to be a higher abundance of thriving wildlife as compared to clean areas, and that if current population rates continue, the only population crisis will be that there are not ENOUGH people to support the human race.)

Both books are good examples on why we should never stop learning about where our “stuff” comes from and where it goes to once we’re done with it.

Doc Review: FLOW: For Love of Water

2009-01-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

FLOW is a riveting documentary that covers all aspects of the global water crisis—from chemical pollution that is causing fish and frogs to spontaneously change sexes, to the corporate take over of water supplies, to large scale dams redirecting the natural flow of rivers for greed of the rich, to lack of access to clean and safe drinking water in the world’s poorest communities (where contaminated water kills more people than war or AIDS). “Water=money=power” is evidenced by the fact that only 3 major corporations (Suez, Vivendi and Thames Water) control not only the global water supply, but also created and control the World Water Council, an organization that has taken upon itself to be voice of authority on global water supply. We as Americans rarely think about where our water comes from and where it goes to, but in less than 10 years many American aquifers are in serious danger of being completely drained. Could you imagine having to wait in line for hours with a bucket for the mere possibility of clean water? It may be a reality if drastic changes are not made to our consumption habits. Another staggering statistic: Nestle owns SEVENTY percent of the bottled water brands (such names as Poland Spring, Ozarka, Deerfield Park, and Arrowhead) and supplies these brands by setting up in local communities, extracting the water from the ground and then selling back to consumers. I hope this documentary widens the discussion of who really owns water and how we all need to change our habits to keep it clean and plentiful.
Sign the petition for “the right for water”.

2009-01-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the world works in very mysterious ways. During my new conscious habit of being more responsible for my actions, I had a rather prophetic experience. After discovering that a PayPal donation I had tried to make 2 years ago did not go through (I don’t check the account very often and when I signed on recently, I noticed the money back in my account and a “declined” letter waiting for me… dated 2006) I was disheartened, because I had no idea that this happened. I could have just walked away, taken that money and moved on with my life. But instead, this week, I went about making it right. I resent the donation directly to my friends at Greenie Films (creators of A Finished Life, the documentary about my late friend Gregg) with a note of humble apology and fessing up to what had happened. Their response was a pleasant coincidence: the amount I sent was needed exactly at that time to pay for the dub of the copy of the film that will shown on HERE TV shortly. Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways, and I am beginning to truly believe the power of intuition.

The Accountability of Simplicity

2009-01-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Oops. Okay, I’m ready to admit it. I did it. Picked up a wedding present for a friend this weekend (pushing that Emily Post rule about having 1 year after the wedding to come through with the gift or face social rudeness) and promptly proceeded to puncture a hole and scrape the side of the leather ottoman I had just purchased, not 15 minutes before. Sigh. So I ran through the options, #1- I mean it’s not really that bad, right, giving a wedding present that’s slightly damaged? Um, yes it is. Okay how about #2-head back to Tarjay and say that I didn’t notice that it was damaged when I bought it. This seemed like the way to go, but after sleeping on the decision, I remembered something I had written about in my book, which is that returning things that are damaged or that you have bought just to take parts out of is stealing, plain and simple.
So now the ottoman sits in my living room, and I convince myself that it is a nice addition to the space, damage and all. It serves as a reminder to be more accountable for my actions. I’ve also decided that I need to fill it up with a comparable amount of “stuff” to get rid of to justify its arrival. I’m also going to try to save the comparable amount of money spent, since now I still have to get another wedding present!

"A New Era of Responsibility"

2009-01-21T17:30:00.001-08:00

I like the sound of those words. I know there’s all this backlash that people think Obama is god, even when he says the same words as Bush, but I think it all comes down to who you believe more. Or who has not made a fool of the country he claims to love time and time again. I hope everyone takes these words to heart, and begins their own personal quest for responsibility. Owning up to our mistakes, accepting what has come to pass and being accountable for our actions. It’s going to be a long slog through the mire, but I think the only way Americans can make their way through this is to scale back, take control of their own lives and SIMPLIFY!

To quote Nina Simone:

2009-01-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good.

I hope everyone is feeling pretty good today.

A Day of Service: A Simplist's Contribution

2009-01-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

So I headed out last Saturday morning for my few hours of volunteering—I had opted for a joint venture between WeChangeLA and Tree People helping prune fruit trees that would be donated to non-profits such as schools or churches to distribute amongst their members. A little trepidation as I roused myself from sleep this morning (as there is anytime you try something new, alone) but a short bike ride to the park where the event was held and I was ready to get to work. We all seemed daunted by the large number of trees waiting for us in the compound, (it looked like a challenge out of The Amazing Race...)but the 15 or so volunteers that showed up made quick work of it (so much so that while we were budgeted for 4 hours of work, we finished it in 2). It turned out to be a wonderful idea, reacquainting me with Tree People (which I had been a member of many years ago but let it lapse after moving away), plus introducing me to the newly formed We Change LA (so new they don’t even have their own website, oh the humanity!) While this 2 hours of pruning might not change the world, it showed me that this kind of service—something so simple and not very time-consuming, can fit into even a very hectic schedule.

Call to Service

2009-01-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

So this weekend, our President-elect has issued a call to arms to the American people…5 hours of community service on Monday (for those with the day off—I however will be toiling at the TV Guide Network). So in lieu of having a day off, I’ll use this weekend to do my 5 hours of service. The real task now comes at selecting something last minute that is both worthy of 5 hours of service and "accomplish-able". First stop: checking out USAService.org for a listing of projects in my area.

I'm back... finally.

2009-01-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings and salutations… it has been far too long since my last post, and I am terribly sorry for that. I also abandoned my 12 for 2008 resolutions started last January midway through the year and well that’s just unfortunate. But it’s a new year, and a new you…er, me… and a new economy. In just 5 days the Almighty Obama will take office and fix everything…right? Well just in case, I’m going to try to use this year to focus on how to save money and be green at the same time. I’ve always been very conscious of both, but it’s time to dig deeper and see how green and how frugal I can be. It’s time to cut those bills in half! It’s time to kick it into high gear, people!

2008-11-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

It figures when I can get from Navajo, AZ to Groom, TX on one tank, gas finally goes below $2 a gallon again.

2008-11-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

Okay I’ve regained my simplistic composure over here, granted I’m still spending money like I have it to spend, but I also am a lot more focused on being able to find alternative solutions based on using items that I already own as well as creative holiday gifts (didn’t you know Christmas season started yesterday). I’m also working on clearing out the back of the freezer by finally thawing out all those old items and converting them to edible dinner—with the help of random late season peppers that are growing (no idea what kind they are but don’t look a gift pepper in the mouth). And also finally rounded up all the haz mat items in the house for the yearly trek to the recycling center. I’m really lucky to live in a community that has its own (pretty much) ‘no questions asked’ hazardous materials center that’s open 3 days a week, and while I try my best to avoid purchasing anything that may eventually become hazardous waste, sometimes it’s unavoidable—burned out light bulbs that came with the apartment, dead AA batteries, old and failing electronics, expired medications. At least I could take some pride in watching my neighbors bring in clearly-dug-out-of -the-ground car batteries.

More lapsing...

2008-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

. I’ve been a lapsed simplist lately. I know I should know better, and what’s even worse is that I have the time to devote to making conscious decisions. Not sure why I’ve decided to take the easy way out on numerous occasions. I figured after I stopped working 7 days a week, I’d be better able to focus my attention on making better decisions. But alas no. Instead of asking a friend if I could borrow (have) an old phone that they weren’t using or heading to Goodwill to see if they had a used one I could purchase, I headed to Target and thought a $5 cheap plastic phone was a better idea. Instead of taking time to look up the cat’s vaccination schedule and speaking up at the vet, I let her go ahead and give him his vaccinations at least 6 months earlier than needed and at full cost (remembering afterward that PetCo does them for considerably less.) I brought new foam cushions into the house to finish up the couch, forgetting the effect that the off-gassing fumes would have on me for months and months into the future. And on and on, the list goes. So starting here and now today, I’m going to refocus my attention. I have the time, there’s just no excuse for why I am not more mindful of my actions, especially in these troubled economic times.

Link of the Day: Junk Mail Gems

2008-10-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

We’re all about creative reuse here at the Daily Dose, and yesterday I came across this site: Junk Mail Gems which “turns trash into treasure”. Now the best way to get rid of junk mail is to cut it off at the source by opting out of marketing mail and removing your address from their system…BUT, even with those tricks, there’s always going to be some junk mail that slips through. And what Gretchen from Minnesota has done here has created some great examples of upcycling (recycling a material to make something of higher quality than the original product): pins, magnets, wallets and jewelry created using recycled materials, and each piece is handmade and unique. Even nicer is the fact that she gives you hints on how the items are made and provides links and ideas on how you can recycle your own junk mail.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame Week

2008-10-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

So it apparently is “Lights Out” night while watching Game 4 of the ALCS… So I’m sitting over here in the dark waiting for the Red Sox to come back from a 3 run deficit. It’s gonna be a long 9 innings if they can’t come back and I have to sit here in the dark. I wonder how many people are actually also sitting watching in the dark as well… the website already has 105,000 registered participants (all probably excited about the prospect of winning a new TV that uses less energy too.)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame Week

2008-10-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

This might all fall into the “every little bit helps” file. Caught a playoff game in Anaheim last week and noticed that the beer cups are now made from corn and considerably larger (more beer in the cup means less trips to the beer line… uh, and less cups!)

'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' Week

2008-10-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the baseball playoff season, I thought I’d round up a few attempts by the national pastime to “green up” their sport.
First, I caught this bright idea from the perfectly coifed & chiseled Anderson Cooper during the ALDS game 4 between the Red Sox and the Angels: As part of his “Planet in Peril” series he is trying to rally the viewers to turn their lights off during game 4 of the ALCS. But be sure to leave your TV on. Maybe someone mentioned the irony of this request, because doing a Google search, I can’t find anything about it online.

We're Back

2008-09-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well the ‘Daily Dose’ has been a little dark for the past few months what with our office’s mandatory ‘take the summer off’ policy, followed immediately by ‘get back to work to pay off those summer bills’. But we’re back up and running now and hopefully back on a regular posting schedule.

I’d be remiss if I let this weekend’s sad news go by without a mention. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been a Paul Newman super-fan for many many years and the sad news this weekend that he had lost his battle with lung cancer is still touching my soul tonight. More than just celebrity ‘hero-worship’ Paul was a man who truly represented what I’m trying to extol here on the blog, in my book and with my daily actions. He was someone who did not just talk the talk. He put his money, his time and his reputation on the line for helpless children who are suffering from disease. He did it all with dignity and class. He did not live in a glass tower and look down those he was trying to help—he was there, in the trenches. He was a truly passionate individual that took a hobby for driving fast and turned it into a second career that delighted him until his final days. He was a truly brilliant actor—so good that I don’t think people truly realized his talents, thinking that maybe he was truly that roguish cad from Hud, or that sly trickster from The Sting. In fact, he is probably a little of each of the characters he played, but none is a complete picture of the man.

The world is a little sadder now that he is gone, but I hope that his legacy lives on. Thanks for the memories, pal.

(LA Times posted the official obituary here)